uncia¹

Meaning

1. New Latinfemininesnow leopard

Declension

Origins

1. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
2. Proto-Indo-European*lú(n)ḱs
3. Proto-Hellenic*lúnks
4. Latinuncia

Ancient Greek λύγξ (lúnx)bor. Latin lynx Vulgar Latin *luncea? Italian lonzabor. Old French lonceder. Middle French onceder. Latin uncia From Middle French once (“lynx, wild cat”) under influence from once (Latin uncia, “ounce”), from false division of Old French lonce (“lynx”) mistaking its initial l for the article l', from Vulgar Latin *luncea possibly via Italian lonza, from Latin lynx, from Ancient Greek λύγξ (lúnx, “lynx”). First used in reference to the snow leopard by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1777 as Felis uncia.

Meaning

1. historicaluncia, a coin of the Roman Republic equal to 1/12 as
2. historicalinch, a length unit, equal to 1/12 of one foot
3. figurativelyAn insignificantly small length
4. historicalounce, a mass unit equal to 1/12 of one pound
5. figurativelyAn insignificantly small amount
6. historicaluncia, an area unit equal to 1/12 of one jugerum
7. twelfth, 1/12 of any amount or unit

Declension

Origins

1. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
3. Proto-Italic*oinos
4. Old Latinoinos
5. Latinū̆ncia

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin ūnicus Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin uncia Building upon Varro, most modern Latinists derive this word from ūnicus (“unique”) + -ia, itself from ūnus (“one”) (from Proto-Indo-European *óynos) in the sense of twelfths making up the base unit of various ancient systems of measurement. Following Heron of Alexandria, Weiss instead postulates a borrowing from Ancient Greek ὀγκία (onkía, “uncia”), from ὄγκος (ónkos, “weight”); he considers the loss of medial /i/ necessitated by the traditional etymology unproblematic but the derivation from "unique" semantically implausible.

Related words