taurus

See also: Taurus

Latin

taurus (a bull)

Alternative forms

• tarvus, tarvos (archaic)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *tauros, from Proto-Indo-European *táwros.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈtau̯.rus/, [ˈt̪äu̯rʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈtau̯.rus/, [ˈt̪äːu̯rus]

Noun

taurus m (genitive taurī); second declension

1. a bull, steer
2. the constellation Taurus the bull
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.717–718:

     vacca sit an taurus, nōn est cognōscere prōmptum:
     pars prior appāret, posteriōra latent.

     Whether it is a cow or a bull is not easy to know:
     the front part appears, the hindquarters lie hidden.
     (Although Ovid wryly observes that Taurus (constellation) depicts only the head, horns, and forequarters of this mythological animal, traditionally it was seen as a ‘‘taurus’’ and not a ‘‘vacca’’ charging in the sky.)

3. an instrument of torture, in the shape of a bull
4. a small bird that sounds like the lowing of oxen, possibly the bittern
5. a kind of beetle
6. (anatomy) the perineum

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	taurus	taurī
Genitive	taurī	taurōrum
Dative	taurō	taurīs
Accusative	taurum	taurōs
Ablative	taurō	taurīs
Vocative	taure	taurī

Hypernyms

• bōs

Derived terms

• taura
• taureus
• tauricornis
• taurifer
• tauriformis
• taurigenus
• taurīnus
• taurobolicus
• taurobolīnus
• taurobolior
• taurocenta
• taurophthalmon
• taurulus
• Taurus

 

Descendants

• Aromanian: tavru
• Asturian: toru
• Catalan: toro
• Corsican: toru
• → English: Taurus
• French: taureau
• Friulian: taur
• Ido: tauro
• Interlingua: tauro
• Italian: toro
• Norman: touothé
• Occitan: taur
• Old French: tor
• Old Galician-Portuguese: touro
  • Galician: touro
  • Portuguese: touro, toiro
• Romanian: taur
• Romansch: taur
• Sardinian: trau
• Sicilian: tàuru, tàvuru
• Spanish: toro (see there for further descendants)
• Venetian: toro
• Walloon: torea

See also

• vacca

References

• “taurus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “taurus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• taurus 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)
• taurus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “taurus”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “taurus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “taurus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “toro” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN

Anagrams

• sutura

Latvian

Noun

taurus m

1. accusative plural of taurs (“aurochs”)

Lithuanian

Noun

taurùs

1. accusative plural of taũras (“aurochs”)