ericius

English

Etymology

From Latin ēricius.

Noun

ericius (plural not attested)

1. (biblical) hedgehog

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰḗr (“hedgehog”). Compare ēr (“hedgehog”), and its variant forms.

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /eːˈriː.ki.us/, [eːˈriːkiʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /eˈri.t͡ʃi.us/, [eˈriːt͡ʃius]

Noun

ērīcius m (genitive ērīciī or ērīcī); second declension

1. hedgehog

   Synonym: ērīnāceus

2. (military) A beam armed with sharp spikes.
   • c. 48 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili 3.67:

     Erat obiectus portis ericius.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	ērīcius	ērīciī
genitive	ērīciī ērīcī1	ērīciōrum
dative	ērīciō	ērīciīs
accusative	ērīcium	ērīciōs
ablative	ērīciō	ērīciīs
vocative	ērīcie	ērīciī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• *ērīciō

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: ariciu, arici
  • Romanian: arici
  • → Albanian: uriq, iriq
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: ricciu
  • Italian: riccio
  • Sicilian: rizzu m, rizza f (see there for further descendants)
• North Italian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: riss, ress
    • Ligurian: riseu, rìsso
    • Lombard: rizz, riss, ress, ariss
    • Piedmontese: ariss, riss
  • Friulian: riç, rič
  • Romansch: rizza f
  • Venetan: riço, riso
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: héres
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: oriç
  • Old Occitan: aritz
    • Languedocien: eriç, eiriç
    • Vivaro-Alpine: eriç
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: erizo, arizo
  • Asturian: oriciu, ariciu, arizu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: ourizo
    • Portuguese: ouriço, oiriço
  • Spanish: erizo, rizo
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: rizzu
• Borrowings:
  • → English: ericius (learned)
  • → Portuguese: erício (learned)
  • Basque: kirikino
  • Translingual: Clubiona ericius, Hypostomus ericius, Metabelba ericius

Further reading

• “ericius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ericius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ericius 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)
• ericius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “ericius”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ericius”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin