English
crux
Crux comes from Latin crux ‘cross, wooden frame for execution’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrux‘cross, wooden frame for execution’
- Englishearliest quotation 1775crux
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrux‘cross, wooden frame for execution’
- Englishearliest quotation 1775crux
Earliest quotation: 1775, Thomas Sheridan: “What I have advanced upon this species of verse…”
The story
Borrowed from Latin crux (‘cross, wooden frame for execution’), possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (‘to turn, to bend’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to turn, to bend’
short, share, card, cancer, score, shirt, circle, screen, circuit, curve, scare, circus, circulation, skirt, carnival, curb, scar, cancellation, crucial, shrine, circa, corona, shear, scorpion, incarceration, shred, crest, carnage, scrutiny, raffle, circulate, carcinoma, corolla, scorn, shrewd, shard, carnal, cirque, riddance, circulatory, 117 more
through Latin crux ‘cross, wooden frame for execution’
across, cross, cruise, crusade, crouch, crucible, excruciating, cruciform, 7 more
Today it means
noun The basic, central, or essential point or feature.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin crux / crux