nugae

Latin

Alternative forms

  • naugae (archaic)

Etymology

Unknown. Perhaps a borrowing from another Italic language, cognate with nux (“nut”) and naucum (“nutshell, trifle”).[1]

Compare typologically Russian семе́чки (seméčki), ещё цвето́чки (ješčó cvetóčki).

Pronunciation

Noun

nūgae f pl (genitive nūgārum); first declension

  1. jokes, jests
    Nōlī nūgās prōferre!
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
  2. trifles
    • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 1.3–4:
      Corneli, tibi: namque tu solebas / meas esse aliquid putare nugas
      To you, Cornelius: since you used to regard my trifles to be something
  3. worthless people

Usage notes

  • The singular nūga is not used classically, but is attested in New Latin.

Declension

First-declension noun, plural only.

plural
nominative nūgae
genitive nūgārum
dative nūgīs
accusative nūgās
ablative nūgīs
vocative nūgae

Derived terms

References

  • “nugae”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “nugae”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • nugae in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
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