nucunculus

Latin

Tironian note for nucunculus as displayed by Schmitz 1893

Etymology

From nux (“nut”) +‎ -unculus (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /nuˈkun.ku.lus/, [nʊˈkʊŋkʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /nuˈkun.ku.lus/, [nuˈkuŋkulus]

Noun

nucunculus m (genitive nucunculī); second declension

(hapax) diminutive of nux

Usage notes

This word is a hapax legomenon that is only attested in a table of Tironian notes (shorthand abbreviations). Because of this, we do not know in what context it was used, and therefore do not know its exact meaning. According to Lewis and Short, it might refer to a type of nut-cake (compare lucunculus and lībācunculus).

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	nucunculus	nucunculī
genitive	nucunculī	nucunculōrum
dative	nucunculō	nucunculīs
accusative	nucunculum	nucunculōs
ablative	nucunculō	nucunculīs
vocative	nucuncule	nucunculī

References

“nucunculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
nucunculus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Schmitz, Wilhelm (editor). 1893. Commentarii notarum tironianarum cum prolegomenis adnotationibus criticis et exegeticis notarumque indice alphabetico. Commentarii IV. Cap. III. IV., tab. 109 (Gr. 176, 177), nota 33.