murcus
murcus, i, m.,
- a coward, who, to escape military service, cuts off his thumb (post-class.), Amm.15, 12, 3.
murcus, ī, m., verstümmelt, Gloss. (s. Löwe Prodr. p. 283); insbes. von dem, der, um nicht Soldat zu werden, sich den Daumen abschnitt, Amm. 15, 12, 3.
credere ni vis / quod pueri sic / edere metrum / (improbe!) possunt / hic resident qui / dogmate docti / pontificali, / ut neque sensum / prodere murcum / sive poema / non fore rectum
1 murcus, ī, m. , mutilé, [dʼoù] lâche, poltron [qui se coupait le pouce pour ne pas servir] : Amm. 15, 12, 3.
Nec eorum aliquando quisquam, ut in Italia, munus Martium pertimescens, pollicem sibi præcidit, quos jocaliter,Innocentius I. PP. Epist. ad Felicem Nucerianum Episc. :(al. localiter)Murcos appellant.
Scripsisti in his Clericos quos constituas, non habere, aliquos verostatuit Arnobius lib. 4. adv. Gentil. HincMurcos , aliquos bigamos esse. Mursiam segnium Deam
Murcidus, pro ignavo, apud Plautum et al. et
Murcinarius, mutilus, in Glossis Isidori. Vide leg. 5. Cod. Th. de Tyronib. (7, 13.) et ibi Jac. Gothofredum, præterea Menagium in Amœnitat. Juris pag. 12. Edit. Martini.
Murcus
A nickname given by the Roman soldiers to a malingerer, one who maimed himself by cutting off his thumbs, in order to be excused from military service (Amm. Marcel. xv. 12, 5; Suet. Aug. 24). Compare the English word “poltroon”; Ital. poltrone (pollice trunco).