dux

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dux (“leader”). Doublet of doge, duc, duce, and duke.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʌks/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌks
• Homophone: ducks

Noun

dux (plural duxes or duces)

1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand) The top (male or female) academic student in a school, or in a year of school; the top student in a specified academic discipline.

   Synonym: (North America) valedictorian

   • 1849, Wilhelm Steven, The History of the High School of Edinburgh, page 191:

     […] on the motion of Sir John Marjoribanks, Bart., Lord Provost, unanimously resolved, July 27, 1814, “that there be annually presented by the town of Edinburgh to the boy at the head of the Greek class, taught by the rector of the High School, a gold medal of the same value [five guineas] as that annually presented to the dux of the Latin class.”

   • 1999, Keith Scott, Gareth Evans, page 29:

     He finished the year dux of Form III with an average 90 per cent over eight subjects. The school did not award end-of-year marks in fourth and fifth forms, but Evans’ report for those years shows he passed all subjects in both years and was again dux in Form V.

   • 2010, Roger K. A. Allen, Ballina Boy, page 28:

     This school was where my father had been dux in his senior year in 1937 just as his father had been dux at the Rockhampton Grammar School²⁷ before the turn of the 19th century.

   • 2011, A. Lydiard, Running to the Top, page 17:

     Quite a few who became national athletic champions were also duxes or top academic pupils at their schools.

2. (historical) A high-ranking commander in the Roman army, responsible for more than one legion.
3. (music) The subject of a fugue, answered by the comes.

Anagrams

• UXD

Etymology

From Russian дух (dux).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [duχ]

• Audio (Baku):

  (file)

Noun

dux (definite accusative duxu, plural duxlar)

1. (colloquial, proscribed) courage

   Synonyms: (vulgar) göt, cəsarət

   bunu eləmək üçün dux lazımdır! ― it takes courage to do this!

   buna duxum çatmır ― I lack the courage to do this

Further reading

• “dux” in Obastan.com.

Etymology

From dūcō (“lead”, verb) +‎ -s (noun-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈduks/, [ˈd̪ʊks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈduks/, [ˈd̪uks]

Noun

dux m or f (genitive ducis); third declension

1. leader, head
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.363-364:

     “[...] Portantur avārī / Pygmaliōnis opēs pelagō; dux fēmina factī.”

     “[...] The wealth of avaricious Pygmalion they carry across the sea, a woman the leader of the deed.”
     (Venus tells Aeneas about Dido. See: Pygmalion of Tyre.)

2. commander, general, captain
3. prince, ruler
4. guide, cicerone, conductor
5. (Medieval Latin) duke
6. (ambiguous example quotation; various possible interpretations)

   Coordinate term: ducissa

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.124-125:

     “[...] Spēluncam Dīdō dux et Troiānus eandem
     dēvenient. [...].”

     “Dido, [as] the [ruler/leader/guide?], and the Trojan [ruler/captain?] [Aeneas] will arrive at the same cavern.”
     (Ambiguity: Queen Dido, ruler of Carthage, here may be a guide, who is “leading the way” into the cave. Aeneas, on the other hand, leads the Trojans as their chieftain or captain. The alliteration of “Dido dux” aligns the word with the queen; however, the juxtaposition can also be understood as Dido and Aeneas being “side-by-side” as they enter together.)

References

• “dux”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “dux”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "dux", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• dux in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a demagogue, agitator: plebis dux, vulgi turbator, civis turbulentus, civis rerum novarum cupidus
    
  • (ambiguous) to be guided by ambition: gloria duci
    
  • (ambiguous) to cherish a hope: spe duci, niti, teneri
    
  • (ambiguous) to be misled by a vain hope: inani, falsa spe duci, induci
    
• “dux”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• dux in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “dux”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), Bern, München: Francke Verlag

Noun

dux

1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of duk (“duke”)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dux. Doublet of duque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈduɡs/ [ˈd̪uɣ̞s]
• Rhymes: -uɡs
• Syllabification: dux

Noun

dux m (plural dux)

1. doge (chief magistrate in the republics of Venice and Genoa)

Further reading

• “dux”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10