iuncus

Latin

Alternative forms

• juncus

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *joinikos, cognate with Middle Irish ain (“rushes, reeds”) and Old Norse einir (“juniper”) equated with Latin iūniperus. Kroonen derives it from a hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *h₁oi-n-io-, and Matasović notes that because this group of words is found only in Western Indo-European dialects, it likely originated as a loanword from a non-Indo-European (substrate) source.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈi̯un.kus/, [ˈi̯ʊŋkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈjun.kus/, [ˈjuŋkus]

Noun

iuncus m (genitive iuncī); second declension

1. rush, reed

   Synonym: scirpus

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	iuncus	iuncī
Genitive	iuncī	iuncōrum
Dative	iuncō	iuncīs
Accusative	iuncum	iuncōs
Ablative	iuncō	iuncīs
Vocative	iunce	iuncī

Derived terms

• iunceus

Descendants

• Catalan: jonc
• Italian: giunco
• Old French: jonc
  • Middle French: jonc
    • French: jonc
    • → Middle English: jonk, jonke, jounke, joynk, junck, junk (probably)
      • English: junk
• Old Galician-Portuguese: junco
  • Fala: xuncu, xhuncu, ixhuncu
  • Galician: xunco
  • Portuguese: junco
• Sicilian: juncu
• Spanish: junco, juanga, joanga, iuncque (archaic)
  • → English: junco
  • → Translingual: Junco
• → Translingual: Juncus
  • → English: juncus

References

• “iuncus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• iuncus 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)