noun · masculinethird declension
cōdex
cōdex m (genitive cōdicis)
Classical[ˈkoː.dɛks]Ecclesiastical[ˈkɔː.deks]
Meaning
- tree trunk; book, notebook
That was Claudius, who for this reason was called Caudex because a structure linking several wooden planks was called in antiquity a caudex. Hence too the Law Tables are called codices, and even today the boats which carry provisions up the Tiber are called by the old-fashioned name codicariae.
c. 49 CE, Seneca, De Brevitate Vitae (On the Shortness of Life) (in English), Penguin, →ISBN, page 21:
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | cōdex | cōdicēs |
| genitive | cōdicis | cōdicum |
| dative | cōdicī | cōdicibus |
| accusative | cōdicem | cōdicēs |
| ablative | cōdice | cōdicibus |
| vocative | cōdex | cōdicēs |
cōdex, ĭcis, v. caudex.
Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
cōdex icis, m
(for caudex), a block: Codice misso, O.—A log for punishing slaves, stocks: inmundus, Pr.: residens in codice, Iu. — A block sawn into tablets, book, writing, manuscript, document (in leaves; cf. volumen, a roll): multos codices implevit: falsus.—Esp., an account-book: accepti et expensi, a ledger: in codicis extremā cerā, the last tablet: referre in codicem.
Origins
Originally an alternative form of caudex, showing 'rustic' monophthongization of /au̯/ to /oː/.
Descendants
- Catalancodi
- Frenchcode
- Portuguesecódigo
- Spanishcódigo
- Catalancòdex
- Englishcodex
- Frenchcodex
- GermanKodex
- Italiancodice
- Occitancodèx