equus

See also: Equus

Latin

Alternative forms

equos (Republican spelling)
ecus (phonetic spelling)

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁éḱwos

For Proto-Italic *ekwos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos (“horse”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἵππος (híppos), Sanskrit अश्व (áśva), Persian (asb), Old Armenian էշ (ēš, “donkey”), Tocharian B yakwe, Gaulish epos. Respelt with QVV for the earlier QVO/CV in post-Augustan times on the analogy of oblique cases.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈe.kʷus/, [ˈɛkʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈe.kwus/, [ˈɛːkwus]

Noun

equus m (genitive equī, feminine equa); second declension

horse
- 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid II.48:
  equo ne credite, Teucri! Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
  Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Danaans even if they are bearing gifts.
- Vergil, Aeneis II, 48 and 110-113 and 150 (edited and translated by H. Rushton Fairclough, Virgil with an English translation I, 1916)
  saepe illos aspera ponti | interclusit hiems et terruit Auster euntis; | praecipue, cum iam hic trabibus contextus acernis | staret equus, toto sonuerunt aethere nimbi.
  Often a fierce tempest of the deep cut them off and the gale scared them from going. Above all, when yonder horse now stood framed of maple-beams, storm clouds sounded throughout the sky.
  
  quo molem hanc immanis equi statuere?
  To what end have they set up this huge mass of a horse?
steed, charger
- Vergil, Georgicon II, 541-542 (edited and translated by H. Rushton Fairclough, Virgil with an English translation I, 1916)
  Sed nos immensum spatiis confecimus aequor, | et iam tempus equum fumantia solvere colla.
  But in our course we have traversed a mighty plain, and now it is time to unyoke the necks of our smoking steeds.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	equus	equī
genitive	equī	equōrum
dative	equō	equīs
accusative	equum	equōs
ablative	equō	equīs
vocative	eque	equī

Synonyms

Hypernyms

iūmentum (when used to pull carts)
armentum (when used to pull plows)

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

→ Italian: equo
→ Esperanto: ekvo, ekvedo, ekveno
→ Translingual: Equus

References

“equus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“equus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
equus 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)
equus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to begin a journey (on foot, on horseback, by land): iter ingredi (pedibus, equo, terra)
- to ride: equo vehi
- to saddle a horse: sternere equum
- to mount: conscendere equum
- to mount: ascendere in equum
- to dismount: descendere ex equo
- to be on horseback: in equo sedere; equo insidēre
- to sit a horse well; to have a good seat: (in) equo haerere
- to put spurs to a horse: calcaria subdere equo
- to put spurs to a horse: calcaribus equum concitare
- at full gallop: equo citato or admisso
- ride against any one at full speed; charge a person: equum in aliquem concitare
- to give a horse the reins: admittere, permittere equum
- to give a horse the reins: frenos dare equo
- to make a horse prance: agitare equum
- to manage a horse: moderari equum
- the horses are panic-stricken, run away: equi consternantur
- to bring horses to the halt when at full gallop: equos incitatos sustinere
- to keep horses, dogs: alere equos, canes
- to serve in the cavalry, infantry: equo, pedibus merere (Liv. 27. 11)
- to capture horses: capere equos
- to fight on horseback: ex equo pugnare