English

Noun

dux ‎(plural duxes or duces)

1. (Britain) (Australia) The top academic student in a school, or in a year of school; the top student in a specified academic discipline.
   • 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.

Related terms

• duke
• doge

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *dewk-s, root nomen agentis from *dewk- ‎(“to lead”), whence dūcō ‎(“I lead”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /duks/

Noun

dux m ‎(genitive ducis); third declension

1. leader
2. commander, general
3. prince, ruler
4. (Medieval Latin) duke

Inflection

Third declension.

Derived terms

• archidux
• condux (Mediaeval)
• ducātus
• ēducō
• trādux

Related terms

• archiducātus
• dūcō

Descendants

• Ancient Greek: δούξ ‎(doúx, “leader”)
  • Greek: δούκας ‎(doúkas, “duke”)
  • Old Armenian: դուքս ‎(dukʿs)
• English: dux
• Friulian: duche, dûs
• Italian: duce, duca, doge
• Occitan: duc
• Old French: duc ‎(“duke”)
  • English: duke
    • Irish: diúc ‎(“duke”)
    • Manx: duic ‎(“duke”)
    • Scottish Gaelic: diùc ‎(“duke”)
    • Welsh: dug ‎(“duke”)
    • Cornish: duk ‎(“duke”)
    • Breton: duk ‎(“duke”)
  • French: duc ‎(“duke”)
  • Norman: duc ‎(“duke”), du
  • Catalan: duc
  • Portuguese: duque
  • Spanish: duque
• Romanian: duce
• Sicilian: duca
• Spanish: dux
• Venetian: Doxe

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, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “dux”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (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 (accessed 16 July 2016) 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
• Andrew L. Sihler (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press
• Julius Pokorny (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, in 3 vols, Bern, München: Francke Verlag

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin dux. Doublet of duque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [duks]

Noun

dux m ‎(plural dux)

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