unctus

Latin

Etymology

Perfect passive participle of ungō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈuːnk.tus/, [ˈuːŋkt̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈunk.tus/, [ˈuŋkt̪us]

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.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ūnctus	ūncta	ūnctum		ūnctī	ūnctae	ūncta
Genitive	ūnctī	ūnctae	ūnctī		ūnctōrum	ūnctārum	ūnctōrum
Dative	ūnctō		ūnctō		ūnctīs
Accusative	ūnctum	ūnctam	ūnctum		ūnctōs	ūnctās	ūncta
Ablative	ūnctō	ūnctā	ūnctō		ūnctīs
Vocative	ūncte	ūncta	ūnctum		ūnctī	ūnctae	ūncta

Related terms

• ūnctum

Descendants

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

References

• “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.