Caucasus
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Via Latin Caucasus, from Ancient Greek Καύκασος (Kaúkasos).
Pronunciation
[edit]Proper noun
[edit]Caucasus
- A mountain range in Eastern Europe between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, on territory of Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which includes the ranges of Greater Caucasus and Lesser Caucasus.
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- Oh who can hold a fire in his hand / By thinking on the froſtie Caucaſus? / Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite, / by bare imagination of a Feaſt?
- 1851, Lieutenant Maturin Murray, The Circassian Slave, or The Sultan's Favorite:
- […] from the long and rugged ravines of the Caucasus, […]
- 1887, Walter Savage Landor, Gebir:
- Driven with that weak blast which Winter leaves, / Closing his palace gates on Caucasus, / […]
- 1895, Robert W. Chambers, The King In Yellow:
- Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium writhed in the throes of Anarchy, while Russia, watching from the Caucasus, stooped and bound them one by one.
- The Hindu Kush, anciently known by Latin and Greek translated variants as the 'Caucasus of India' since the time of Alexander the Great.
- (geopolitics) A geopolitical region in Eastern Europe and Western Asia, deriving its name from the aforementioned mountains.
Usage notes
[edit]- Usually referred to as the Caucasus, but not always (see quot. 1887)
- In vernacular speech, this term is often misconstrued as a plural noun (e.g. the "Caucases" or "Caucuses"), as many other mountains chains in English are collective plural nouns, such as the Rockies, the Alps, the Appalachians, etc. This may also contribute to the popular usage of the definite article alongside it, whereas other geographical regions are often not accompanied by an article (especially Latin-derived toponyms).
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]a mountain range
|
geographic region
|
Latin
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Ancient Greek Καύκασος (Kaúkasos).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkau̯.ka.sʊs]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkaːu̯.ka.s̬us]
Proper noun
[edit]Caucasus m sg (genitive Caucasī); second declension
Declension
[edit]Second-declension noun, singular only.
| singular | |
|---|---|
| nominative | Caucasus |
| genitive | Caucasī |
| dative | Caucasō |
| accusative | Caucasum |
| ablative | Caucasō |
| vocative | Caucase |
Descendants
[edit]- Catalan: Caucas
- French: Caucase
- Galician: Cáucaso
- Italian: Caucaso
- Occitan: Caucàs
- Portuguese: Cáucaso
- Romanian: Caucaz
- Spanish: Cáucaso
- → Basque: Kaukaso
- → Arabic: اَلْقَوْقَاز (al-qawqāz)
- → Danish: Kaukasus (learned)
- → Dutch: Kaukasus (learned)
- → English: Caucasus (learned)
- → Finnish: Kaukasus (learned)
- → German: Kaukasus (learned)
- → Hungarian: Kaukázus (learned)
- → Middle Irish: Cucas
- Irish: Cugas
- → Russian: Кавказ (Kavkaz) (see there for further descendants)
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English proper nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Geopolitics
- en:Armenia
- en:Azerbaijan
- en:Georgia
- en:Mountains
- en:Russia
- Latin terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- Latin terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Latin 3-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin proper nouns
- Latin second declension nouns
- Latin masculine nouns in the second declension
- Latin masculine nouns
- la:Mountains