English

Proper noun

Glaucus

1. (Greek mythology) Glaucus, a Greek prophetic sea-god, born mortal and turned immortal upon eating a magical herb. It was believed that he commonly came to the rescue of sailors and fishermen in storms, having once been one himself.
2. (Greek mythology) Glaucus, a mythical Lycian soldier and captain in the Trojan War.
3. (Greek mythology) Glaucus, son of Sisyphus, and a mythical Corinthian king.
4. (Greek mythology) Glaucus, son of king Minos.
5. (Greek mythology) Glaucus, one of the sons of Priam.
6. (Greek mythology) Glaucus, a son of Aepytus.
7. (Greek mythology) Glaucus, one of the twelve younger Panes

Translations

English

two glaucuses Glaucus atlanticus (left) and Glaucus marginatus

Noun

glaucus ‎(plural glaucuses)

1. Any member of the genus Glaucus of nudibranchiate mollusks, found in the warmer latitudes, swimming in the open sea. These mollusks are beautifully colored with blue and silvery white.
2. Citrus glauca, the desert lime, a thorny shrub species endemic to semi-arid regions of Australia.
   • 1833, Charles Sturt, Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, Complete:

     This pass is extremely abrupt, and is covered with glaucus, the low scrub I have noticed as common to the sand-stone formation.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlaʊ.kus/

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek γλαυκός ‎(glaukós, “blue-green, blue-grey”).

Adjective

glaucus m ‎(feminine glauca, neuter glaucum); first/second declension

1. bright, sparkling, gleaming, grayish

Inflection

First/second declension.

Related terms

• glaucēum
• glaucōma
• glaucōpis

Descendants

• English: glaucous
• Italian: glauco
• Romanian: glauc
• Spanish: glauco

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek γλαῦκος ‎(glaûkos, “an edible grey fish”).

Noun

glaucus m ‎(genitive glaucī); second declension

1. (Mediaeval Latin) a bluish-grey colored fish of uncertain identity, perhaps the derbio

Inflection

Second declension.

References

• glaucus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• glaucus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• GLAUCUS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• glaucus in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia
• glaucus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• glaucus in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• glaucus in William Smith., editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly