hiulcus

Uncertain, perhaps from an adjective *hiulus or a verb *hiulō + -cus, from hiō; compare petulcus.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [hiˈʊɫ.kʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [iˈul.kus]

hiulcus (feminine hiulca, neuter hiulcum, adverb hiulcē); first/second-declension adjective

1. gaping, split, cleft, opened, open; cracked

   Synonyms: fissilis, scissus

   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgics 2.346–353:

     Quod superest, quaecumque premes virgulta per agros,
     Sparge fimo pingui et multa memor occule terra,
     Aut lapidem bibulum aut squalentis infode conchas;
     Inter enim labentur aquae tenuisque subibit
     Halitus atque animos tollent sata; iamque reperti,
     Qui saxo super atque ingentis pondere testae
     Urgerent; hoc effusos munimen ad imbris,
     Hoc, ubi hiulca siti findit canis aestifer arva.

     • Translation by James B. Greenough

       For the rest, whate'er
       The sets thou plantest in thy fields, thereon
       Strew refuse rich, and with abundant earth
       Take heed to hide them, and dig in withal
       Rough shells or porous stone, for therebetween
       Will water trickle and fine vapour creep,
       And so the plants their drooping spirits raise.
       Aye, and there have been, who with weight of stone
       Or heavy potsherd press them from above;
       This serves for shield in pelting showers, and this
       When the hot dog-star chaps the fields [open] with drought.

2. (poetic) cleaving, splitting, destroying
   • c. 45 CE – 96 CE, Statius, Thebaid 1.22–31:

     […]
     Bella Iovis teque, o Latiae decus addite famae,
     Quem nova mature subeuntem exorsa parentis
     Aeternum sibi Roma cupit, licet artior omnis
     Limes agat stellas et te plaga lucida caeli,
     Pleiadum Boreaeque et hiulci fulminis expers,
     Sollicitet, licet ignipedum frenator equorum
     Ipse tuis alte radiantem crinibus arcum
     Imprimat aut magni cedat tibi Iuppiter aequa
     Parte poli, maneas hominum contentus habenis,
     Undarum terraeque potens, et sidera dones.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (figuratively, rhetoric) not well connected, forming a hiatus, disconnected
   • 55 BCE, Cicero, De Oratore 3.171:

     Conlocationis est componere et struere verba sic, ut neve asper eorum concursus neve hiulcus sit, sed quodam modo coagmentatus et levis; in quo lepide soceri mei persona lusit is, qui elegantissime id facere potuit, Lucilius: […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 95 CE, Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory 9.4.36:

     Nam et coeuntes litterae, quae συναλιφαί dicuntur, etiam leviorem faciunt orationem, quam si omnia verba suo fine cludantur, et nonnunquam hiulca etiam decent faciuntque ampliora quaedam: ut pulchra oratione ista iacta te cum longae per se et velut opimae syllabae aliquid etiam medii temporis inter vocales, quasi intersistatur, adsumunt.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. (figuratively, rare) eager, longing, desirous

   Synonyms: appetēns, avidus, cupiēns, cupidus

   Antonyms: incūriōsus, neglegēns

   • c. 195 BCE, Plautus, Trinummus 2.2:

     Nolo ego cum improbis te viris, gnate mi,
     neque in via, neque in foro necullum sermonem exsequi
     novi ego hoc saeculum moribus quibus siet:
     malus bonum malum esse volt, ut sit sui similis;
     turbant, miscent mores mali: rapax avarus invidus
     sacrum profanum, publicum privatum habent, hiulca gens.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

First/second-declension adjective.

• “hiulcus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “hiulcus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “hiulcus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.