pecus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *pekos, from Proto-Indo-European *péḱ-os (“livestock”). Related to pecū, from Proto-Indo-European *peḱu- (“livestock, domestic animals”). Cognates include Sanskrit पशु (páśu, “cattle”), Old Armenian ասր (asr, “fleece”), Old Saxon fehu, Old English feoh, Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌿 (faihu), Old Norse fé, Swedish fä and Lithuanian pēkus (“cattle”).

The origin of the suffixal -d- in pecus ~ pecudis is unknown.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.kus/, [ˈpɛkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.kus/, [ˈpɛːkus]

Noun

pecus n (genitive pecoris); third declension

1. (zoology) A group of large domestic animals: a herd of cattle, horses, or donkeys; such animals in a collective sense: cattle and equines.
   • 1st century bc, M. Terentius Varro, Rerum Rusticarum, Book II, Ch. 1, §12:

     ...est scientia pecoris parandi ac pascendi ut fructus quam possint maximi capiantur ex eo... Ea partes habet novem, discretas ter ternas, ut sit una de minoribus pecudibus cuius genera tria oves, capra, sus, altera de pecore maiore, in quo sunt item ad tres species natura discreti: boves, asini, equi. Tertia pars est in pecuaria quae non parantur ut ex iis capiatur fructus, sed propter eam aut ex ea. Sunt muli, canes, pastores.

     ...there is a knowledge of tending and feeding livestock so that the greatest profit is siezed from it... It has nine parts, three divisions of three items each, such that one is about the lesser domestic animals whose three species are the sheep, goat, and pig and another about the greater livestock, in which there are likewise three kinds divided by their nature: cows, donkeys, and horses. The third part is in animals which are not raised so that profit may be seized from them themselves but because of or from the other groups above. They are mules, dogs, and shepherds.

   • 1st century bc, G. Iulius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Book. VI, Ch. vi:

     Caesar... adit tripertito, aedificia vicosque incendit, magno pecoris atque hominum numero potitur.

     Caesar... enters their country in three divisions, burns their houses and villages, and gets possession of a large number of animals and men.

2. (zoology, figuratively) Any other group of animals, imagined as a herd or flock; such animals collectively exclusive of humanity: beasts.
   • 1st century, L. Iunius Moderatus Columella, De Re Rustica, Book VIII, Ch. iv:

     ...volatile pecus...

     ...flying herd [i.e., birds]...

   • 1st century, L. Iunius Moderatus Columella, De Re Rustica, Book VIII, Ch. xvii, Sect. 7:

     Hac ratione stabulis ordinatis aquatile pecus inducemus...

     With our 'stables' arranged on this principle, we will lead in our watery 'herd' [i.e., fish]...

3. (derogatory) A mindless group of people: "cattle", "sheep", rabble, the mob.
4. (zoology, Late Latin) Any individual animal, conceived as a member or usual member of a flock or herd.

Usage notes

In Latin, pecora may be used for any domestic animal, especially larger herd animals, but the stronger plow-drawing animals (armenta) and cart-drawing animals (iūmenta) were often distinguished. In Late Latin, the neuter form of pecus was generally used for all the senses of feminine pecus below.

Declension

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

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pecus	pecora
Genitive	pecoris	pecorum
Dative	pecorī	pecoribus
Accusative	pecus	pecora
Ablative	pecore	pecoribus
Vocative	pecus	pecora

Derived terms

• pecorālis
• pecorārius
• pecorīnus
• pecorōsus
• pecusculum

 

Descendants

• Padanian:
  • Friulian: piore
  • Ligurian: pegoa, pegora, piégoa
  • Lombard: pévra, péura, pégora
  • Old Piedmontese: piévra
    • Piedmontese: pévra
  • Venetan: piègora, pégora, piovra
• Gallurese: pécura, pégura
• Italian: pecora
• → Portuguese: pécora
• Sassarese: péggura
• Sicilian: pècura
• → Spanish: pécora

Noun

pecus f (genitive pecudis); third declension

2. A single herd animal, especially a head of cattle, a horse.
3. A single animal, a beast, especially smaller livestock or livestock taken generally.
   • 1st century bc, M. Terentius Varro, Rerum Rusticarum, Book II, Ch. 1, §12:

     ...est scientia pecoris parandi ac pascendi ut fructus quam possint maximi capiantur ex eo... Ea partes habet novem, discretas ter ternas, ut sit una de minoribus pecudibus cuius genera tria oves, capra, sus, altera de pecore maiore, in quo sunt item ad tres species natura discreti: boves, asini, equi. Tertia pars est in pecuaria quae non parantur ut ex iis capiatur fructus, sed propter eam aut ex ea. Sunt muli, canes, pastores.

     ...there is a knowledge of tending and feeding livestock so that the greatest profit is siezed from it... It has nine parts, three divisions of three items each, such that one is about the lesser domestic animals whose three species are the sheep, goat, and pig and another about the greater livestock, in which there are likewise three kinds divided by their nature: cows, donkeys, and horses. The third part is in animals which are not raised so that profit may be seized from them themselves but because of or from the other groups above. They are mules, dogs, and shepherds.

   • 29 bc. Vergil. Georgics, III

     omne adeo genvs in terris hominvmqve ferarvmqve
     et genvs æqvorevm pecvdes pictæqve volvcres
     in fvrias ignemqve rvvnt

     So far does every species on earth of man and beast,
     whether the aquatic species, livestock, or painted-winged,
     collapse into the frenzies and the fire [of sex].

4. (derogatory) A mindless or violent person: a brute, an animal.

Usage notes

Like pecus above, this sense usually excluded the stronger plow-drawing animals (armenta) and cart-drawing animals (iumenta). This feminine pecus was also more broadly used for smaller livestock including sheep, goats, and swine, although it was used in the plural pecudes rather than as a collective noun to describe their flocks (greges). By Late Latin, it was generally confused with neuter pecus above, the latter eventually replacing it in all senses.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pecus	pecudēs
Genitive	pecudis	pecudum
Dative	pecudī	pecudibus
Accusative	pecudem	pecudēs
Ablative	pecude	pecudibus
Vocative	pecus	pecudēs

Hypernyms

• (larger livestock): pecus
• (smaller livestock): grex

Derived terms

• pecudālis
• pecudifer

 

Related terms

• pecū
• pecuārius

Noun

pecūs

1. genitive singular of pecū

References

• “pecus1”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pecus2”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pecus3”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pecus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pecus 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)
• pecus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to flee like deer, sheep: pecorum modo fugere (Liv. 40. 27)
    
• "Pecus; Jumentum; Armentum; Grex" in H.H. Arnold's translation of Ludwig von Döderlein's Hand-Book of Latin Synonymes (1841), pp. 158–9.

Sardinian

Alternative forms

• pegus

Etymology

From Latin pecus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpekus/

Noun

pecus m (plural pecos)

1. head of cattle