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stercus

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Latin

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Etymology

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From Proto-Indo-European *(s)terǵ-, *(s)terḱ-, *(s)treḱ- (manure, dung; to sully, soil, decay), with similar words across Indo-European branches, albeit with various phonetic difficulties. Compare Welsh troeth (urine), Hittite [script needed] (ištar(k)-, to ail, afflict), Lithuanian ter̃šti (to soil),[1] as well as Proto-Germanic *þrakjaz (dirt).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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stercus n (genitive stercoris); third declension

  1. dung, excrement, ordure
    Synonyms: fimum, laetāmen

Declension

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Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

singular plural
nominative stercus stercora
genitive stercoris stercorum
dative stercorī stercoribus
accusative stercus stercora
ablative stercore stercoribus
vocative stercus stercora

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Galician: esterco
  • Italian: sterco
  • Portuguese: esterco
  • Romanian: șterc
  • Spanish: estiércol

References

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  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “stercus, -oris”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 585

Further reading

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  • stercus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • stercus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "stercus", 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)
  • stercus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.