cuneus

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cuneus. Doublet of coin.

Noun

cuneus (plural cunei)

1. (anatomy) A portion of the occipital lobe of the human brain, involved in visual processing.
2. (architecture) One of a set of wedge-shaped divisions separated by stairways, found in the Ancient Roman theatre and in mediaeval architecture.

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱū (“sting”) (which also gave culex (“mosquito”)), extended from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) (compare catus (“sharp”), acutus (“sharp”), cos (“whetstone”), Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone”))

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈku.ne.us/, [ˈkʊ.ne.ʊs]

Noun

cuneus m (genitive cuneī); second declension

1. wedge, wedge shape

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’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• cuneus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to draw up troops in a wedge-formation: cuneum facere (Liv. 22. 47)
    
• 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