lituus

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin lituus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtju.əs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

lituus (plural litui)

1. A military trumpet.
   • 1786: Fig. 3. A Roman Lituus, or military trumpet, such as is mentioned by Horace in his first ode. — Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page vi.
2. An augur's staff with a recurved top.
3. (geometry) A curve with polar equation $r^{2}\theta =a^{2}$, where a is a constant.

Related terms

• lituate
• lituiform

Further reading

• Mathworld article on the geometrical lituus

Latin

Etymology

From Etruscan or from Proto-Indo-European *(e)lAi- (“to bend”). Compare English lith and German Glied (“limb”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈli.tu.us/, [ˈlʲɪt̪uʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.tu.us/, [ˈliːt̪uːs]

Noun

lituus m (genitive lituī); second declension

1. a military trumpet
2. a curved staff

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	lituus	lituī
genitive	lituī	lituōrum
dative	lituō	lituīs
accusative	lituum	lituōs
ablative	lituō	lituīs
vocative	litue	lituī

Derived terms

• liticen

References

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

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin lituus.

Noun

lituus n (plural lituusuri)

1. lituus

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	lituus	lituusul		lituusuri	lituusurile
genitive-dative	lituus	lituusului		lituusuri	lituusurilor
vocative	lituusule			lituusurilor

References

• lituus in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN