curvus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *korwos, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, curve, turn”) + *-wós (whence Latin -vus). Cognate with English shrink, and Latin carcer and cancer.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkur.u̯us/, [ˈkʊru̯ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkur.vus/, [ˈkurvus]

Adjective

curvus (feminine curva, neuter curvum); first/second-declension adjective

1. bent, crooked, curved
2. aged (of a person)
3. (figuratively) wrong

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	curvus	curva	curvum		curvī	curvae	curva
Genitive	curvī	curvae	curvī		curvōrum	curvārum	curvōrum
Dative	curvō		curvō		curvīs
Accusative	curvum	curvam	curvum		curvōs	curvās	curva
Ablative	curvō	curvā	curvō		curvīs
Vocative	curve	curva	curvum		curvī	curvae	curva

Descendants

• Catalan: corb
• Galician: curvo
• Italian: curvo
• Old French: corbe
  • French: courbe
    • → Romanian: curb
  • → English: corbe
• Portuguese: curvo
• Spanish: corvo

References

• “curvus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “curvus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• curvus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “curb”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.