reciprocicornis

Latin

FWOTD – 19 May 2023

From reciprocus (“returning”) +‎ cornū (“horn”).

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /re.ki.pro.kiˈkor.nis/, [rɛkɪprɔkɪˈkɔrnɪs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /re.t͡ʃi.pro.t͡ʃiˈkor.nis/, [ret͡ʃiprot͡ʃiˈkɔrnis]

reciprocicornis (neuter reciprocicorne); third-declension two-termination adjective

(hapax) with horns curved backwards
- c. 160 CE – c. 225 CE, Tertullian, De Pallio 1.3:
  Equidem haud mīror prae documentō superiōre. Nam et ariētem (nōn quem Laberius reciprocicornem ait, lānicutem et testitrahum, sed trabēs māchina est quae mūrōs frangere mīlitat) nēminī unquam adhūc lībrātum illa dicitur Carthago, 'studiīs asperrima bellī', prīma omnium armāsse in oscillum pendulī impetūs, commentāta vim tormentī dēbile pecoris caput vindicantis.
  I'm not surprised at all on account of a previous example. For the ram too (not the one whom Laberius calls reciprocally-horned, wooly-skinned and testicle-dragging, but the siege weapon that smashes walls), not swung into anyone yet, Carthage, 'the toughest in the arts of war', is said to have first mobilised in the oscillation of violence, having realised the power of the engine by analogy of the anger of the beast that avenges itself with its head.

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	masc./fem.	neuter	masc./fem.	neuter
	singular		plural
nominative	reciprocicornis	reciprocicorne	reciprocicornēs	reciprocicornia
genitive	reciprocicornis		reciprocicornium
dative	reciprocicornī		reciprocicornibus
accusative	reciprocicornem	reciprocicorne	reciprocicornēs reciprocicornīs	reciprocicornia
ablative	reciprocicornī		reciprocicornibus
vocative	reciprocicornis	reciprocicorne	reciprocicornēs	reciprocicornia

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