noun · masculineirregular, third declension
bōs
bōs m or f (genitive bovis)
Classical[ˈboːs]Ecclesiastical[ˈbɔs]
№ 808 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- head of cattle (cow, bull, steer, or ox)
Hoc iuncti boves, hoc paratus equus, hoc data arma denuntiant.
The yoked oxen, the harnessed steed, the gift of arms, proclaim this fact.c. 98 CE, Tacitus, Germania 18
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
animal magnum agrī: taurus vel vacca; bovēs agrōs arant.bōs bovis m/f — in Mille Verba, Animālia
animal quod aratbōs, bovis (m) — in IVLIANVS I: Gallia, ch. 7
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | bōs | bovēs |
| genitive | bovis | boum bovum, boverum |
| dative | bovī | bōbus būbus, bovibus |
| accusative | bovem boem | bovēs |
| ablative | bove | bōbus būbus, bovibus |
| vocative | bōs | bovēs |
bōs, bŏvis (prob. orig. form of nom. bŏ-vis, like bovare for boare, Petr. 62, 13; cf. Varr L. L. 8, § 74 Müll., where, acc. to Cod. B., the read. should be: nunc in consuetudine aliter dicere pro Jovis Juppiter, pro Bovis Bos, pro Strus Strues.—Hence,
I. gen. plur. bŏvĕrum, Cato, R. R. 62 Schneid. N. cr.; cf. Varr. L. L. l. l.: alios dicere Boum greges, alios Boverum; v. Juppiter, nux, rex, sus, and Schneid. Gr. 2, p. 171.— Regular gen. boum very freq.;
uncontracted form bovum, Cic. Rep. 2, 9, 16 Halm; Cod. Sang. Colum. 6, 17, 6; 6, 37, 11, and Cod. Reg. ib. 6, 38, 4; cf. Prisc. p. 773 P.—Dat. plur. contr. bōbus, Hor. C. 3, 6, 43; id. C. S. 49; id. Epod. 2, 3; Cic. N. D. 2, 63, 159, twice; cf. Prisc. p. 773 sq. P.; but more freq. and class. būbus, even Cato, R. R. 6, 3; 54, 1; 54, 60; 54, 70; 54, 73; once bŭbŭs, Aus. Epigr. 62, 2; cf. on the other hand, Serv. ad Verg. E. 8, 86.—Exs. of the uncontracted form bovibus are entirely. wanting; v. Neue, Formenl. 1, 280 sqq.; 1, 289), comm.; generally masc. in prose (hence, femina bos, Varr. R. R. 2, 1, 17; Liv. 25, 12, 13; 27, 37, 11; Col. 6, 24, 3; Plin. 8, 46, 71, § 186; Tac. G. 40) [from the root bo-, prop. the roaring, kindr. with Gr. βοῦς, βῶς; Sanscr. gō, gu]. I. An ox, a bull, a cow; described by Plin. 8, 45, 70, § 176 sq.; Cato, R. R. 70 sq.; Varr. R. R. 1, 20, 1; 2, 1, 12 sq.; 2, 5, 7.—In gen.: quia boves bini hic sunt in crumenā, i. e. the price of them, Plaut. Pers. 2, 5, 16:
Olympiae per stadium ingressus esse Milo dicitur, cum umeris sustineret bovem, Cic. Sen. 10, 33: consimili ratione venit bubus quoque saepe Pestilitas, Lucr. 6, 1131: quae cura boum, qui cultus habendo Sit pecori, Verg. G. 1, 3: bos est enectus arando, Hor. Ep. 1, 7, 87; Verg. G. 3, 50 sq.; Col. lib. 6; Pall. Mart. 11, 1 sq.—In fem.: actae boves, Liv. 1, 7, 6: bove eximiā captā de grege, id. 1, 7, 12; Ov. M. 8, 873; so, torva, Verg. G. 3, 52: cruda, Hor. Epod. 8, 6: intactae, id. ib. 9, 22: formosa, Ov. M. 1, 612: incustoditae, id. ib. 2, 684: vidisti si quas Boves, id. ib. 2, 700: forda, fecunda, id. F. 4, 630 and 631 al. —Prov.: bovi clitellas imponere, to put a pack - saddle upon an ox, i. e. to assign one a duty for which he is not qualified, old Poët. ap. Cic. Att. 5, 15, 3 (in the form non nostrum onus: bos clitellas (sc. portabat), Quint. 5, 11, 21 Spald.); cf.: optat ephippia bos, piger optat arare caballus, Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 43; and Amm. 16, 5, 10.—Humorously, for a whip cut from neat's leather, a raw hide: ubi vivos homines mortui incursant boves, Plaut. As. 1, 1, 20: bos Lucas, the elephant; v. Lucani, D.—II. A kind of sea-fish of the genus of the turbot, Plin. 9, 24, 40, § 78; Ov. Hal. 94; cf. Plin. 32, 11, 54, § 152.
Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
bōs bovis, gen plur. boum or bovum, dat. bōbus or būbus, m and f
, βοῦς, an ox, bull, cow: umeris sustinere bovem: enectus arando, H.: femina, L.: eximiā, L.: torva, V.: boves vendere: cura boum, horned cattle, V.: iuga demere Bobus fatigatis, H.: est bos cervi figurā, etc., a wild ox, Cs. — Prov.: clitellae bovi sunt impositae, the saddle is on the wrong horse: Optat ephippia bos piger, envies the horse, H.
Origins
Irregular, for the expected **vōs/**ūs, accusative **vom, oblique stem **vov-, from Proto-Italic *gʷōs, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws, which also gave Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), Sanskrit गो (go) (nominative singular gaúḥ), and English cow. Most likely a borrowing from a Osco-Umbrian language, attested as Umbrian bum (acc.sg.), bue (abl.sg.), buo (gen.pl.), buf (acc.pl.) all spelling /bō-/. This was likely motivated by the fact that the expected form would have produced an undesirable homonymic clash with vōs (“you”) in the nominative and with ovis (“sheep”) in the oblique. It's unclear whether the borrowing included the entire paradigm, or just the initial consonant.
Insular Romance
- Sardinianboe
- Sardinianfoe
- Sardinianvoe
- Sardinianboi
Italo-Romance
- Italianbove
- Italianbue
- Corsicanboiu
- Sicilianvoi
Northern Gallo-Romance
- Frenchbœuffrom Old French buef
- Englishbeeffrom Old French buef
- Franco-Provençalbôf
- Bourbonnais-BerrichonbϞfrom Old French buef
- Bourguignonbeufrom Old French buef
- Champenoisbeufrom Old French buef
- Haitian Creolebèffrom Old French buef
- Mauritian Creolebeffrom Old French buef
- Picardbeufrom Old French buef
- Picardbuëfrom Old French buef
Ibero-Romance
- Portugueseboifrom Old Galician-Portuguese boi
- Spanishbueyfrom Old Spanish buey
- Asturianbuefrom Old Leonese buee
- Asturiangüefrom Old Leonese buee
- Asturianbuoifrom Old Leonese buee
- Asturianbueifrom Old Leonese buee
- Asturiangüeifrom Old Leonese buee
- Leonesebuéfrom Old Leonese buee
- Leoneseboifrom Old Leonese buee
- Leonesebueifrom Old Leonese buee
Balkan-Romance
- Romanianbou
- Aromanianbou
- Megleno-Romanianbou
Southern Gallo-Romance
- Catalanbou
- Aragonesebue
- Aragoneseuei
- Aragonesebuei
- Auvergnatbeufrom Old Occitan bou
- Auvergnatbueufrom Old Occitan bou
- Gasconbuèufrom Old Occitan bou
- Gasconbueufrom Old Occitan bou
- Gasconbeufrom Old Occitan bou
- Gasconbieufrom Old Occitan bou
Translingual
- TranslingualBos
Dalmatian-Romance
- Dalmatianbu
- Istriotbò
Padanian
- Emilianbeu
- Emilianbò
- Friulianbo
- Ligurianbeu
- Lombardbeu
- Lombardbò
- Lombardbeuiv
- Piedmontesebeu
- Piedmontesebò
- Romagnolbò