iuncus

Latin

Alternative forms

• juncus

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *joinikos, cognate with Middle Irish ain (“rushes, reeds”) and Old Norse einir (“juniper”) equated with Latin iūniperus. Kroonen derives it from a hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *h₁oy-n-yo-, but Matasović notes that because this group of words is found only in Western Indo-European dialects, it likely originated as a loanword from a non-Indo-European (substrate) source; this is supported by de Vaan.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈi̯un.kus/, [ˈi̯ʊŋkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈjun.kus/, [ˈjuŋkus]

Noun

iuncus m (genitive iuncī); second declension

1. rush, reed

   Synonym: scirpus

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	iuncus	iuncī
genitive	iuncī	iuncōrum
dative	iuncō	iuncīs
accusative	iuncum	iuncōs
ablative	iuncō	iuncīs
vocative	iunce	iuncī

Derived terms

• iunceus

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: giunco
  • Sicilian: juncu
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: jonc
  • Old French: jonc
    • Middle French: jonc
      • French: jonc
      • → Middle English: jonk, jonke, jounke, joynk, junck, junk (probably)
        • English: junk
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: junco
    • Fala: xuncu, xhuncu, ixhuncu
    • Galician: xunco
    • Portuguese: junco
  • Spanish: junco, juanga, joanga, iuncque (archaic)
    • → English: junco
    • → Translingual: Junco
• Borrowings:
  • → Translingual: Juncus
    • → English: juncus

Further reading

• “iuncus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "iuncus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)