unctus

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈuːŋk.tʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈuŋk.tus]

Etymology 1

Perfect passive participle of ungō.

Participle

ūnctus (feminine ūncta, neuter ūnctum, comparative unctior); first/second-declension participle

1. anointed
2. of the bottoms or hulls of boats or ships: having been coated, prepared, or made seaworthy or watertight, using pitch, pine-tar, or tar; having been tarred
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.397–398:

     Tum vērō Teucrī incumbunt, et lītore celsās
     dēdūcunt tōtō nāvēs: Natat ūncta carīnā.

     Truly then [did] the Trojans set to work, and draw down their tall ships all along the shore: [Each] hull, [freshly] tarred, is afloat [once more].

3. greasy, oily

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ūnctus	ūncta	ūnctum		ūnctī	ūnctae	ūncta
genitive	ūnctī	ūnctae	ūnctī		ūnctōrum	ūnctārum	ūnctōrum
dative	ūnctō	ūnctae	ūnctō		ūnctīs
accusative	ūnctum	ūnctam	ūnctum		ūnctōs	ūnctās	ūncta
ablative	ūnctō	ūnctā	ūnctō		ūnctīs
vocative	ūncte	ūncta	ūnctum		ūnctī	ūnctae	ūncta

Derived terms

• ūnctum

Descendants

• Aromanian: umtu
• Friulian: ont
• Galician: unto
• Italian: unto
• Old French: oint
  • Middle French: oint
    • French: oint
• Portuguese: unto

Etymology 2

From ungō +‎ -tus (forming action nouns).

Noun

ūnctus m (genitive ūnctūs); fourth declension

1. an anointing, anointment

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	ūnctus	ūnctūs
genitive	ūnctūs	ūnctuum
dative	ūnctuī	ūnctibus
accusative	ūnctum	ūnctūs
ablative	ūnctū	ūnctibus
vocative	ūnctus	ūnctūs

Further reading

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