hircosus

Latin

Etymology

From hircus (“goat”) +‎ -ōsus, possibly reflecting the meaning of the suffix “smelling like”.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /hirˈkoː.sus/, [hɪrˈkoːs̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /irˈko.sus/, [irˈkɔːs̬us]

Adjective

hircōsus (feminine hircōsa, neuter hircōsum); first/second-declension adjective (derogatory, vulgar)

1. smelling like a goat
   • c. 206 BCE – 188 BCE, Plautus, Mercator 574–575:

     ieiunitatis plenus, anima foetida, / senex hircosus tu osculere mulierem?

     Would you, full of hunger, with a foul breath, a goat-reeking old man, kiss a woman?

   • c. 62 CE, Persius, Saturae 3.77–78:

     hic aliquis de gente hircosa centurionum / dicat: […]

     Here someone of the goat-reeking centurion people might say: […]

References

• hircosus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “hircosus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press