Octogesimus Quintus: August 13, 2008: Caudica
Theme for this week: Olympic sports
caudica, caudicae f.
Definition: kind of barge/lighter; dugout canoe
Sententia: Discipuli optimi ludi patriae caudicam fecerunt ut tempus perderent/de historia discerent (delige primum aut alterum).
The students of the best school of the fatherland/country made a dugout canoe so that they might waste time/ they might learn about history (choose one or the other).
For a website documenting this project, click here.
As opposed to the previous two words, this word isn't common at all. It isn't in the Lewis & Short dictionary, nor in my paper dictionary. I can only find it in Whitaker's Words online -- presumably it is also in the Oxford Latin Dictionary. The Olympic sport is canoing/kayaking/crew, though to be sure they don't use dugout canoes.
The word caudex, caudicis means "trunk, block of wood," and so perhaps it could also mean canoe, since it is indeed made out of a huge block of wood. And it is actually found in the Lewis & Short dictionary and my paper dictionary, though it doesn't have the actual meaning "dugout canoe," making it less cool. These two words are doubtless related, however.
NB: Bold and underline == macron