cuneus

== English == === Etymology === Learned borrowing from Latin cuneus. Doublet of coign and coin. === Pronunciation === === Noun === cuneus (plural cunei) (neuroanatomy) A portion of the occipital lobe of the human brain, involved in visual processing. (entomology) A wedge-shaped section of the forewing of certain heteropteran bugs. (architecture) One of a set of wedge-shaped divisions separated by stairways, found in the Ancient Roman theatre and in mediaeval architecture. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== == Latin == === Etymology === Uncertain root, apparently with the suffix -eus. Various problematic comparisons to either Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) or *ḱúH- (“spike; sting”) (compare Latin culex (“mosquito”), Avestan 𐬯𐬏𐬐𐬁 (sūkā, “needle”), Sanskrit शूक (śūka, “spike; bristle; insect sting”), शूल॑ (śū́la, “spear; stake”) etc.) have been unfruitful; a long vowel (*cūneus) would be expected in the latter case, and the morphology of the -n-eus suffix remains opaque. One possibility is that cuneus is a borrowing from Ancient Greek γώνιος (gṓnios, “corner; angle”) via an Etruscan intermediate which could explain the devoicing, though De Vaan finds this unconvincing. Compare cunnus (“vagina”, derogatory), also of uncertain origin, as well as cutis (“skin”). === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkʊ.ne.ʊs] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkuː.ne.us] === Noun === cuneus m (genitive cuneī); second declension wedge (military): troops arrayed in a wedge formation (transferred sense) a phalanx (formation) (theater) a block of seats ==== Declension ==== Second-declension noun. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Descendants ==== ==== See also ==== cunīculus cunnus cōnus === References === “cuneus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “cuneus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers "cuneus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887) “cuneus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette. Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co. “cuneus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers “cuneus”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly “cuneus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin