# aequus
## Latin
### Alternative forms

* aiquos, aequos (Republican spelling)
* aecus (phonetic spelling)

### Etymology

From earlier aiquos (SCdB), for Proto-Italic *aikʷos or *aikwos, of unknown origin. Cf. however the Italic tribe Aequī, Aequīcolī (+ colere), and the placenames Aequum Tūticum (Samnium Hirpinum), Aequum Faliscum and Aequī Faliscī (Etruria), Superaequum (Samnium Paelignum), in some of which the noun aequum (“plain”), in others perhaps the adjective "razed" can be seen. Probably not related to Sanskrit ऐक्य (aikya, “concord, identity, sameness”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈae̯.kʷus/, [ˈäe̯kʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈe.kwus/, [ˈɛːkwus]

### Adjective

aequus (feminine aequa, neuter aequum, comparative aequior, superlative aequissimus, adverb aequē or aequiter); first/second-declension adjective
* equal
    Synonyms: aequālis, adaequātus, pār, compār
    Antonyms: dispār, inaequālis, impār, inīquus
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.878:tempora nocturnīs aequa diurna ferēsyou will receive daytimes with equal nights (The March equinox, also known as the vernal or spring equinox.)
* level, even, flat, horizontal
    Synonym: plānus
    Antonyms: impār, inīquus
* calm
* (figuratively) fair, impartial, equitable, just, favorable
** 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.520–521:[...] tum, sī quod nōn aequō foedere amantīs cūrae nūmen habet iūstumque memorque, precātur.Then, if [there is] a heavenly power, righteous and mindful, which has concern for lovers in unjust union, [Dido] prays [for intervention]. (Whereas Dido believed that she had joined Aeneas in marriage, he later denied any such commitment. Translations in context – Mackail, 1885: “lovers ill allied”; Knight, 1956: “lovers whose love is not matched well”; Mandelbaum, 1971: “those who love without requital”; Fitzgerald, 1981: “lovers bound unequally by love”; West, 1990: “lovers who have been betrayed”; Lombardo, 2005: “lovers who love on unequal terms”; Fagles, 2006: “lovers bound by unequal passion”; Ahl, 2007: “all lovers with one-sided contracts”; Ferry, 2017: “unfortunate lovers”; Bartsch, 2020: “unrequited love”; Ruden, 2021: “a broken bond of love”.)

#### Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

#### Derived terms

* aequābilis
* aequābilitās
* aequābiliter
* aequaevus
* aequālis
* aequālitās
* aequāliter
* aequanimitās
* aequanimiter
* aequanimus
* aequātiō
* aequātus
* aequē
* aequicrūrius
* aequidicī
* aequidistāns
* aequiformis
* aequilanx
* aequilaterus
* aequilībris
* aequilībrium
* aequimanus
* aequinoctium
* aequipar
* aequiparō, aequiperō
* aequipedus
* aequipēs
* aequipollēns
* aequitās
* aequiter
* aequivocus
* aequō
* aequor
* aequoreus
* aequum
* inīquus

#### Descendants

* → English: equ-
* → Italian: equo
* → Portuguese: équo

### References

* ↑ “equo” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN
* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “aequus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 27
* ↑ Bakkum G. C. L. M. (2009) The Latin Dialect of the Ager Faliscus: 150 Years of Scholarship‎, Amsterdam University Press, →ISBN
* ↑ The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information, volumes 1-2, (Can we date this quote?), pages 258-59

### Further reading

* “aequus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “aequus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* aequus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. (ambiguous) friend and foe: aequi iniqui (ambiguous) to endure a thing with (the greatest) sang-froid: aequo (aequissimo) animo ferre aliquid (ambiguous) justly and equitably: ex aequo et bono (Caecin. 23. 65) (ambiguous) a sound judicial system: aequa iuris descriptio (Off. 2. 4. 15) (ambiguous) to live with some one on an equal footing: aequo iure vivere cum aliquo (ambiguous) in a favourable position: idoneo, aequo, suo (opp. iniquo) loco