caudex

From Latin caudex (“tree trunk”, “tree stem”); compare codex.[1]

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kôʹdĕks, IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːdɛks/,[1]

caudex (plural caudices or caudexes)[1]

1. (botany)[1] An enlargement of the stem, branch or root of a woody plant, usually serving to store water.

• caudicle
• codex

• cōdex

Uncertain, but some have connected it to Proto-Indo-European *h₃osk- (“ash tree”), the same source as English ash, Old Norse askr, Welsh onnen, Latin ornus (“wild mountain ash”), Lithuanian úosis, Russian я́сень (jásenʹ), Albanian ah (“beech”), Ancient Greek ὀξύα (oxúa, “beech”), Old Armenian հացի (hacʿi). The connection stems from the assumption that Indo-Europeans used hollowed out ash trees as boats and skiffs.[1]

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkau̯.deks/, [ˈkau̯.dɛks]

caudex m (genitive caudicis); third declension

1. A tree trunk, stump.
2. A bollard; post.
3. A book, writing; notebook, account book.
4. (derogatory) A blockhead, idiot.

Third-declension noun.

• (bollard, blockhead, idiot): gurdus

• caudica (“a raft”)
• caudicālis
• caudicārius
• caudiceus

• Portuguese: cáudice

• caudex in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• caudex in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• caudex in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• caudex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• caudex in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers