corvus

Latin corvus

corvus (plural corvuses or corvi)

1. (historical) A hooked ram for destroying walls.
2. (historical) A grappling hook in Ancient Roman naval warfare.

From Proto-Italic *korwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂wós, imitative of harsh sounds (compare Middle Irish crú, Lithuanian šárka (“magpie”), Serbo-Croatian svrȁka (“magpie”), Ancient Greek κόραξ (kórax), Old English hræfn), from *ḱer- (compare Latin crepō (“I creak, crack”), Sanskrit कृपते (kṛ́pate, “he laments, implores”)) + *-wós (whence Latin -vus).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkor.u̯us/, [ˈkɔru̯ʊs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkor.vus/, [ˈkɔrvus]

corvus m (genitive corvī); second declension

1. A raven; a bird associated with prophecy and sacred to Apollo.
2. (nautical) A gangplank, used in Roman naval combat for boarding enemy ships.

Second-declension noun.

• (nautical): harpagō, harpax

• corvīnus
• Corvus
• in cruce corvōs pāscere

• Corvus (boarding device) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• “corvus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “corvus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• corvus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• “corvus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “corvus”, in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “corvus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin