cavus

Unadapted borrowing from Latin cavus (“a hollow, hole”). Doublet of cave and cavum.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪ.vəs/
• Rhymes: -eɪvəs

cavus (plural cavi)

1. (geology) In planetary geology, an irregular steep-sided depression that does not seem to be an impact crater.

• pes cavus

• UCAVs

From Proto-Italic *kawos, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱowh₁ós (“hollow”), from *ḱewh₁- (“to swell”).[1] Related to Old Irish cúas (“hollow, cavity”), Tocharian B kor (“throat”), Albanian cup (“odd, uneven”), Ancient Greek κῠ́ᾰρ (kúar, “eye of needle, earhole”), Old Armenian սոր (sor, “hole”), Sanskrit शून्य (śūnya, “empty, barren, zero”), Etruscan 𐌂𐌀𐌅𐌄𐌈 (caveθ). Further related to Proto-Germanic *hūnaz (“outgrowth, swelling; block of wood; offspring”), whence English hune and hound (“projection on a masthead, foretop; bar”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.u̯us/, [ˈkäu̯ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.vus/, [ˈkäːvus]

cavus (feminine cava, neuter cavum, comparative cavior); first/second-declension adjective

1. hollow, hollowed out, cavernous, concave

   Antonym: plēnus

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.81–82:

     Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversā cuspide montem
     impulit in latus [...].

     As soon as these words were said, [King Aeolus], with [his] lance-head turned over, struck the hollow mountain on [its] side [...].
     (The A-B-B-A pattern known as chiasmus: “cavum conversa cuspide montem.” This example separates the adjective “cavum” from its noun “montem,” and creates rhythmical alliteration and consonance through three successive hard “c” sounds. In addition, the Latin word order in lines 81-82 builds tension: The reader first pictures the hollow mountain, next the king dramatically overturning his spear towards it, and lastly striking his spear against the mountainside.)

2. excavated, channeled
3. vain, empty

   Synonym: inānis

First/second-declension adjective.

cavus m (genitive cavī); second declension

1. Alternative form of cavum.

Second-declension noun.

• Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 592
• “cavus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cavus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cavus 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)
• cavus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.