A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Cornu,-us (s.n.IV), abl.sg. cornu, nom. & acc. pl. cornua, also (rarely) cornum,-i (s.n.II), abl.sg. corno: horn, horn-like process, spur; “a horn-like process, commonly solid ... and usually a metamorphosed state of some other organ; (obsol.) also employed in the sense of Calcar” (Lindley); [as ‘cornu’] “1. a horn-like process; 2. occasionally used for Calcar or Spur” (Jackson); a ‘horn’ may be viewed as a curved cone; horn “something shaped like or resembling a horn, esp. a bodily structure suggesting a horn in form” (WIII); horn: “one of the curved ends of a crescent; esp. a cusp of the moon when crescent-shaped” (WIII); = Gk. ceras,-atis (s.n.III); see horn; see cornet; see cusp; see spur;

Calcar,-aris (s.n.III), q.v., acc.sg. calcar, dat.& abl. sg. calcari, nom.& acc. pl. calcaria, gen.pl. calcarium, dat.& abl.pl. calcaribus: spur, “a hollow process of some part of a flower” (Lindley); hollow nectar-producing appendage of calyx or corolla, as in Viola;

Cornu–, a prefix used to indicate a relation to Cornwall, a great promontory, the south-west peninsula of Great Britain, southwestern England; see cornualis,-e (adj.B); see no.5 below.

      singular   plural              Cornu,-us (s.n.IV), a horn
Nom.  cornu     cornua
Gen.  cornus    cornuum
Acc.  cornu     cornua
Dat.  cornui    cornibus
Abl.  cornu     cornibus

1. an animals’s horn; “a hard and generally crooked growth upon the head of many mammiferous animals; of the antlers of a stag” (Lewis & Short);

Cornu,-us (s.n.IV), nom. & acc. pl. cornua, “a horn-like process, commonly solid ... and usually a metamorphosed state of some other organ” (Lindley);

Cornu aspersum, the Garden Snail, a species of land (terrestrial) snail; the ‘horns’ are called ‘tentacles,’ and there are two (retractable) sets on their heads, the upper is light sensitive with terminal eyespots, the lower provide a sense of smell.

- cornu (s.n.IV) cervinum, abl. sg. cornu cervino; see antler, see antlered.

- cervicornis,-e (adj.B): with the horn(s) of a deer.

-[Merulius; fungus] unica vice invenimus fungillum rarum, et quidem cornu bovino! vetustiori muscoso innatum (S&A), we found the rare fungillus one time, in fact growing on an older, mossy cow’s horn!

- Coralloides cornua Cervi referens, corniculis brevioribus (Tourne.) a Coralloides resembling the horns of a deer, with shorter corniculi.

- Fucus coronopi divisura. Alga cornu cervi divisura (Tourn.); Fucus with the divisions of Coronopus. An alga with the divisions with the horn [i.e. antler] of a deer.

- [Mesembrianthemum] foliis cornuum taurinorum in modum inflexis (Tourn.), with the leaves inflexed in the manner of bull-horns.

- Myosotis est plantae genus, flore rosaceo, plurimis scilicet petalis in orbem positis constante: ex cujus calyce surgit pistillum quod deinde abit in fructum cornu bovilli aemulum (Tourn.), Myosotis is a kind of plant, with a rosaceous flower [i.e. like a rose flower], that is, composed of very many petals arranged in a disc [i.e. flat and circular]: from the calyx of which arises the pistil which finally transforms into a fruit resembling a cow [or ox] horn.

- Agaricus foliatus, cornua Damae referens (Tourn.), the foliated [i.e. leafy] Agaric, resembling the horns of a deer [i.e.antlers].

- ramulis Capreoli cornua quodammodo referentibus (Tourn.), with the branchlets in some way resembling the horns of a roebuck [i.e. wild goat].

- [Astacus; crayfish or crab] cornua, & appendices, quae ori prostant, mineaceo colore splendens, chelae maiores in hoc, longioresque, quam in priore, & paucioribus tuberculis, denticulatae intus exiguis tuberculis (Ulysse Aldrovandi), the horns and appendages, which project from the head [or mouth], glittering with a mineaceous [i.e. vermillion, fiery red] color, in this [sc. creature] the chelae are larger, and longer, than in the earlier one, and with fewer tubercles, denticulate on the inside with a few tubercles.

Cliffortia cervicornu [= noun in apposition]

2. horn as a substance (cornu Indicum = ivory); “of things similar to horn in substance or form, or made of horn” (Lewis & Short).

3. a hollowed-out horn used as a container, drinking-vessel, etc. esp. Cornu Copiae “a magic horn supposed to provide whatever its owner desired” (Glare); note Bacchus “as a giver of courage, is represented with horns” (Lewis & Short).

4. a bugle-horn, a horn, trumpet (Lewis & Short);

- scandentes, circumvolvendo sese plantis vicinis, floribus tubulosis oblongis cornu venatorii quodammodo figura, PERIСLYMENUM,Caprifolium (Ray), climbing, enveloping itself around nearby plants, with the flowers tubulose, oblong, in some way like the figure of a hunter’s horn.

5. (of certain natural horny formations) the tusk of an elephant; the hoof of a horse; the beak of a bird; the cornea of the eye (Glare); “of the bills of birds” (Lewis & Short); “the horny skin covering the eye” (Lewis & Short).

6. (of various projections resembling horns): a piece of land jutting into the sea, a spit, headland, etc.; “the arm of the shore forming a harbor, a tongue of land” (Lewis & Short); “the point end, extremity, wing of a place (Lewis & Short); cf. the peninsula of south-western England (Cornwall); see cornualis,-e (adj.B). Cape Horn, southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island (Wikipedia, “Cape Horn” June 20219).

6. a mountain-peak; “the top or summit of a mountain” (Lewis & Short);

- cornua Parnasi, the peaks (summits) of Parnasus;

- [Bartramia wilsonii] In montosis Britanniae et Hiberniae ad Cannor Hill; prope Corn Bychon Valesiae; in alpibus Scoticis ad Glen-Dole in Clova mountains [sic] copiose (C. Mueller), in the mountainous places of Britain and Ireland at Cannor Hill; near Corn Bychon of Switzerland; in the high Scottish mountains at Glen-Dole in the Clova mountains.

NOTE: Corn Bychon is assumed here to refer to Bichon, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Jura Mountains, Switzerland, in the shape of a three-sided horn or cusp.

- cf. Matterhorn Mountain, Swiss Alps (German: “Horn” = peak).

7. a branch of an estuary; “the branches of a river - hence, the river-gods were represented with horns” (Lewis & Short).

8. An ornamental projection on a helmet (cf. corniculum).

9. The end, tip, wing, corner, or other extremity of anything (esp. something curved) (Glare); “ that which is similar to a horn in form, a projecting extremity, the point or end of any object” (Lewis & Short). 10. “a horny excrescence on the head, a wart” (Lewis & Short); “a painful excrescence on the foot” (Ash & Furnivall, 1775).

- cornu bovis, horn of an ox.

- cornu caprae, horn of a she-goat.

- cornu cervi, horn of a deer.

- cornu damae, horn of a fallow deer (Stearn 1983).

- cornu cervinum (adj.A), the deer's horn, antler, abl. sg. cornu cervino.

- cornu copiae, horn of plenty, “a hollowed-out horn used as a container, drinking-vessel, etc., esp. Cornu Copiae, a magic horn supposed to provide whatever its owner desired” (Glare).

- [Ceratodon; moss] A keras [=L.] cornu et odous, [= L.] dens, inde quod peristomii dentes inflexione sua et trabeculis nodulosis caprae cornua referunt (C. Muell.), from keras, [horn] and odous, [tooth], thence, because the teeth of the peristome resemble, by its characteristic inflexion and the trabeculae [i.e. cross-bars] with little knobs resembling the horns of a goat.

- [Asclepiadeae] squamae apice in cornu elongatum erectum v. arcuatum productae, postice nunc in cornu simplex incurvo-adscendens v. patens productae, nunc in cristam verticalem laceram cornui interiori plus minus adnatam dilatatae, nunc omnino muticae (B&H), the scales at the apex prolonged into an elongate erect or arcuate horn [note cornu here is acc.sg. and its modifiers end in -um], postically somtimes prolonged into a simple, incurved-ascending or spreading horn, sometimes dilated into a vertical, lacerated crest more or less adnate to the inner horn [dat.sg.], sometimes completely muticous.

- Omnia Genera & species naturalia sunt. Non enim licet conjungere sub eodem genere Equum & Suem: licet ambae species monungulae essent; nec Capreolum, Rangiferum & Alcen genere distinguere, licet cornuum figura differant (Linn.), all the species and genera are [natural]. Certainly it is not allowed to unite the Horse and the Hog under the same genus: although both species may have been monungulate [i.e. possessing a single hoof]; nor [is it permitted] to separate by a genus the Roebuck, Reindeer [= Caribou], and Elk, although they may differ by the shape of the horns.

- valvis intus subseptiferis, apice in cornua brevia arcuata productis (B&H), with the valves inside nearly septate, at the apex extended into short, arched horns.

- embryone cylindraceo obtuso homogeneo, germinatione in cornu elongato, plumula basin versus cornu tarde evoluta (B&H), with the embryo cylindraceous, obtuse, homogeneous, upon germination elongate into a spur, the plumule toward the base slowly developed into a spur.

- filamento, capillaria, ex loculis lateralibus nectarii per canales ad apices cornuum (Swartz), the filaments hairlike, from the lateral locules of the nectarium along grooves to the apices of the spurs.

- [Orchis] nectarium postice sub galea, fornicatum, medio 3-anguIare, lateribus loculare, in duo cornua porrecta antice divisum: inter quae meatus patet infundibuliformis in cornu germinis (Swartz), the nectarium postically under a galea [i.e. helmet], arched, in the middle 3-angled, locular on the sides, divided antically into two lengthy horns [i.e. spurs]; between which a funnel-shaped meatus [i.e. passage] opens up into the horn [i.e. spur or calcar] of the ovary.

- [Corallina clavigera; algae] cystocarpiis ovatis, apice producto obtusissimo, interdum cornibus binis lateralibus ornatis, with the cystocarps ovate, prolonged at the very blunt apex, sometimes decorated with two lateral horns [i.e. spurs].

- (algae) Cornu antheram credit Vaucherius & foecundationem in Vaucheriis ut in plantis phaenogamis fieri. Vix bene. Cornua pedicellos esse abortivos vel steriles judico (Agardh), Vaucher supposes the horn [i.e. horn-like process] to be an anther and the fertilization in the Vaucheriae as it might be in phaenogamous plants. Hardly well [i.e. not convincing]. I judge the horns to be abortive or sterile pedicels.

- siliqua subtetragona, valvis dorso compressis rigidis, basi in cornua subulata ascendentia verticaliter compressa productis (B&H), silique somewhat tetragonous, with valves compressed on the back, rigid, drawn out at the base ascending into subulate [horn-like] spurs vertically compressed.

NOTE: this is a neuter word, the plural nom. & acc. = cornua;

- [Cruciferae] valvae basi cornutae in Pyramidio; apice cornutae in Notocerate et Parolinia ubi cornua furcata sunt (B&H), the valves are horned at the base in Pyramidium; horned at the apex in Parolinia where the horns are forked.

- valvis intus septatis, apice in cornua elongata furcata productis (B&H), with the valves internally septate, at the apex prolonged into elongate, forked horns.

- valvis intus subseptiferis, apice in cornua brevia arcuata productis (B&H), with the valves internally bearing partial septa, at the apex prolonged into short, arcuate horns.

- siliqua valvis apice in cornua elongata furcata productis (B&H), the silique with the valves prolonged at the apex into elongate, forked horns.

Salicornia,-ae (s.f.I): “L. sal, salt + cornu, a horn; saline plants with horn-like branches” (Fernald 1950).