LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininefirst declension

sīca

sīca f (genitive sīcae)
Classical[ˈsiː.ka]Ecclesiastical[ˈsiː.ka]

Meaning

  1. a dagger, dirk, poniard
    Quotiēns iam tibi extorta est ista sīca de manibus?How many times already has that dagger been wrested from your hands?63 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam orationes 1.16
  2. the edge of a boar's tusk
    Cum arbore et saxō aprī exacuant dentium sīcās.Boars may sharpen the edge of their tusks using tree and stone.

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Gladius · Ensis · Pugio · Sica

1. Gladius (from κλάδος) is the usual, ensis (from ansa?) the select and poetical name for a sword. Quintil. x. 1, 11. (v. 188.) 2. Pugio (from pungere) is a dagger, as a fair and openly used soldier’s weapon, on a level with the sword; whereas sica (from secare) is the unfair and secret weapon of the bandit, on a level with poison. (vi. 291.)

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativesīca
sīcula		sīcae
sīculae
genitivesīcae
sīculae		sīcārum
sīculārum
dativesīcae
sīculae		sīcīs
sīculīs
accusativesīcam
sīculam		sīcās
sīculās
ablativesīcā
sīculā		sīcīs
sīculīs
vocativesīca
sīcula		sīcae
sīculae

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

sicam, cultrum in corde alicuius defigere (Liv. 1. 58)
to plunge a dagger, knife in some one's heart.

sīca, ae, f.
I. A curved dagger, a poniard, Enn. ap. Paul. ex Fest. p. 336 Müll. (Ann. v. 496 Vahl.); Cic. Cat. 1, 6, 16; 2, 10, 23; cf. id. ib. 2, 1, 1; Suet. Calig. 32; Mart. 3, 16, 2; Val. Max. 3, 2, 12 al.: tum haec cottidiana, sicae, veneni, peculatus, i. e. for stabbing, Cic. N. D. 3, 30, 74: hinc sicae, hinc venena, hinc falsa testamenta nascuntur, id. Off. 3, 8, 36.—
II. Transf., the edge of a boar's tusk: cum arbore et saxo apri exacuant dentium sicas, Plin. 18, 1, 1, § 2.—Of wit: sicam ingenii destringentes, Amm. 30, 4, 9.

Origins

Unknown; suggested to be borrowed from Proto-Albanian *tˢ́ika, or more appropriately, Pre-Proto-Albanian *ćīkā. This better explains the long ī in Latin, which was absent in outdated reconstructions of Proto-Albanian and led scholars to assume the borrowing was reversed. See Albanian thikë (“knife”) for more. Despite matching semantics and superficially similar phonetics, not related to secō (“to cut”). There are competing hypotheses about whether sī̆cī̆lis (“sickle”) is derived from sīca: De Vaan assumes it is, whereas von Wartburg, following Romance evidence that implies short vowels in its first two syllables, treats the word for 'sickle' as a derivative of secō. If von Wartburg is correct, it is necessary to distinguish the noun meaning 'sickle' from a separate noun sīcīlis (“spearhead”) used by Ennius, which is from sīca.

Descendants
  • Englishsica
  • Italiansica
  • Albanianthikëfrom Proto-Albanian *tsikā

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesSicaSica a short curved sword, a weapon of the Thracians (sica Θρακικὸν ξίφος ἐπικαμπές, Gloss. Labb.: cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. 1.16, 75; Isid. Orig. 18.8).…

Quick answers

What does sīca mean in Latin?
sīca, a noun, means “a dagger, dirk, poniard; the edge of a boar's tusk”.
What is the genitive of sīca?
The genitive singular is sīcae. sīca is feminine, first declension.
How do you pronounce sīca?
In classical Latin, [ˈsiː.ka]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈsiː.ka].