manatus

manatus (plural manatuses)

1. (archaic) Synonym of manatee.
   • 1882, Thomas Wallace Knox, The Young Nimrods Around the World, page 156:

     The Doctor and lieutenant said they had heard of the manatus, but didn't know what it was exactly. As for the boys, they had never even heard the name.

From Spanish manatí, of Cariban origin.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [maˈnaː.tʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [maˈnaː.tus]

manātus m (genitive manātī); second declension

1. (New Latin) sea cow; dugong or manatee
   • 1705, R. P. Geo. Jos. Camelli ad D. Jacobum Petiver, "De Piscibus Moluscis & Crustaceis Philippensibus", Philosophical Transactions, No. 302, page "2069"

     Duyong Indorum, Peje mulier Hyſpanorum, Haybe Sinarum, eſt Manatus Cluſii, & aliorum.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Second-declension noun.

• Translingual: Manatus (now Trichechus)

• "manatus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)