antiquus

Antiquus is a Latin adjective meaning ancient, old, or long-standing. In Roman-era and later Latin, it describes objects, ideas, or people associated with a distant past. The term derives from ante, meaning before, and is related to modern words such as antique and antiquity. In scholarly usage, antiquus continues to function as a descriptive descriptor rather than a standalone term.

In taxonomy, antiquus is commonly found as a specific epithet in binomial nomenclature. As a Latin adjective, it must agree in gender with the genus name (antiquus for masculine, antiqua for feminine, antiquum for neuter). It is used to signal antiquity or to distinguish a form that is older or fossil-like relative to a related, often extant, taxon. It does not itself constitute a taxonomic rank.

Beyond biology, antiquus appears in archaeology, paleontology, and philology as a label for artifacts, fossils, or manuscripts that originate in ancient contexts. In cataloging and描述, scholars may use antiquus to indicate an archaic character or provenance, especially when comparing material across time periods.

In classical literature and inscriptions, antiquus is a common descriptive term, appearing in phrases that discuss ancient customs, sites, or authorities. Today, the word survives mainly in academic, scholarly, and Latin-language contexts, where it functions as a precise descriptor rather than as a name or category on its own.