encaustum

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔγκαυστον (énkauston), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + καυστός (kaustós, “burnt”), from καίω (kaíō, “I burn”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɛŋˈkau̯s.tũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [eŋˈkau̯s.tum]

Noun

encaustum n (genitive encaustī); second declension

1. the purple-red ink used by the later Roman emperors

   Near-synonym: ātrāmentum

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	encaustum	encausta
genitive	encaustī	encaustōrum
dative	encaustō	encaustīs
accusative	encaustum	encausta
ablative	encaustō	encaustīs
vocative	encaustum	encausta

Related terms

• encaustus

Descendants

Descendants

• Corsican: inchjostru
• Dalmatian: inghiastro
• Dutch: inkt
  • Afrikaans: ink
  • Negerhollands: ink
  • Sranan Tongo: enki
    • Saramaccan: enki
    • → Caribbean Hindustani: inki
    • → Caribbean Javanese: éngki
  • → Japanese: インキ (inki)
• Old French: enque
  • Middle French: ancre
    • French: encre
    • Norman: encre
    • Walloon: intche
  • → Middle English: ynke, ynk, hynke, enke, henk
    • English: ink, inke (obsolete)
      • → Japanese: インク (inku)
      • → Korean: 잉크 (ingkeu)
      • → Telugu: ఇంకి (iṅki)
      • → Welsh: inc
    • Scots: ink
  • → Sicilian: inca (obsolete)
    • → Maltese: linka
• Neapolitan: gnostro
• Friulian: inğhustri
• Italian: inchiostro, encausto, incausto
• Sicilian: inca
  • Maltese: linka
• Sicilian: nchiostru
• Spanish: encausto
  • 　⇒ Spanish: encáustica

References

• “encaustum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “encaustum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “encaustum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “encaustum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.