spurcus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *sporkos, from Proto-Indo-European *spr̥ḱós, perhaps from *sper- (“to scatter”) (originally "contaminated", "polluted"). Perhaps related to spargō, spurius, parcus, spernō, Ancient Greek σπείρω (speírō), English spurn, spread, spare. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

spurcus (feminine spurca, neuter spurcum, comparative spurcior, superlative spurcissimus); first/second-declension adjective

1. dirty, foul, unclean
2. (figuratively) morally-polluted, base, mean

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	spurcus	spurca	spurcum		spurcī	spurcae	spurca
genitive	spurcī	spurcae	spurcī		spurcōrum	spurcārum	spurcōrum
dative	spurcō	spurcae	spurcō		spurcīs
accusative	spurcum	spurcam	spurcum		spurcōs	spurcās	spurca
ablative	spurcō	spurcā	spurcō		spurcīs
vocative	spurce	spurca	spurcum		spurcī	spurcae	spurca

Derived terms

• spurcē
• spurcidicus
• spurcificus
• spurciloquium
• spurcitia
• spurcō

Related terms

• spurcāmen
• spurcātus

Descendants

• Balkano-Romance:
  • ⇒? Romanian: spurc
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Italian: sporco
    • → Greek: σπόρκος (spórkos)
  • Sicilian: sporcu
  • Venetan: spórco
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: sporc
• Borrowings:
  • → Portuguese: espurco

References

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