secus

English

Etymology

From Latin secus.

Adverb

secus (not comparable)

1. (law) otherwise, to the contrary.

Anagrams

• 'scuse

Latin

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Perhaps:

• From Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”), the same root of sequor. Properly, following, later in rank or order, i. e. less than something mentioned before.
• Others refer it to Proto-Indo-European *swe- + *-ḱʷo-.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛ.kʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛː.kus]

Adverb

secus (comparative sequius, no superlative)

1. otherwise, to the contrary

   Synonym: aliter

   sin secus ― otherwise, if not

   • c. 180 BCE, Plautus, Casina 2.6.22–26:

     [Cleostrata] Quis uotat?
     [Lysidamus] Optumum atque aequissumum istud esse iure iudico.
     Postremo si illuc quod uolumus eueniet, gaudebimus:
     Sin secus, patiemur animis aequis. tene sortem tibi:
     Vide quid scriptumst. [Olympo] Vnum. [Chalinus] Iniquomst, quia isti prius quam mihist.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 52 BCE, Cicero, De optimo genere oratorum 1.1:

     Oratorum genera esse dicuntur tamquam poetarum; id secus est, nam alterum est multiplex

     They say there are different kinds of orators, as these exist among poets; but it is otherwise, though of poets there are many.

2. differently

   haud secus, non secus (quam, ac) ― not differently than, just as, even so (as)

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 7.13:

     […] ; quamquam de gloria vix dicere ausim, si nos et hostes haud secus quam feminas abditos intra vallum omnibus contumeliis eludunt, et […]

     […] ; though I had as lief not to speak of glory, when the enemy jeers us with much abuse as if women concealing behind walls, and […]

Preposition

secus (+ accusative) (pre-classical and post-classical, chiefly in Epigraphic Latin, later proscribed)

1. by, beside, along, on

   Synonyms: secundum, ad

   • 234 BCE – 149 BCE, Cato the Elder, De Agri Cultura 21:

     Replicato in inferiorem partem cupae omnis quattuor lamminas; utrimque secus lamminas sub lamminas pollulas minutas supponito, eas inter sese configito, ne foramina maiora fiant, quo cupulae minusculae indentur.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. AD 375, Flavius Sosipater Charisius, Ars Grammatica I:

     Ceterum id quod vulgus usurpat secus illum sedi, hoc est secundum illum, et novum et sordidum est.

     Moreover, this that the common people make use of, "I sat next to [secus] him", this is "next to [secundum] him", and it is new and repulsing.

2. according to, in proportion to

Derived terms

• altrīnsecus
• circumsecus
• extrīnsecus
• forīnsecus
• intrīnsecus
• sequius
• utrīnsecus

Related terms

• sequester
• sequor
• socius

Etymology 2

See sexus.

Noun

secus n (indeclinable)

1. sex, gender, division

References

• “secus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “secus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "secus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “secus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• sin in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2025), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • this is quite another matter: hoc longe aliter, secus est
    
• secus in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• secus (1) and secus (2) in Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879