ros

ros¹ dew

Etymology tree of ros¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin rōs

Catalan ros

Romanian rouă

From the same root · ros¹

Latin rōrō ← rōs

Latin rōscidus ← rōs

Pronunciation

• Northern: [ˈro̞s]^[1]
• Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈrɔs]^[1]

Forms

ros m (plural rosos)^[1]

Etymology

The word for dew is inherited from Latin rōs (“dew”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin noun, genitive ⟨rōris⟩, was treated like a neuter, as other monosyllables were, which explains why the Romance word continues the form ⟨rōs⟩ and not the accusative ⟨rōrem⟩.^[4][5] Late Latin already felt the stem to end in /s/ and formed rōsulentus (“full of dew”); the important Romance derivatives rosada and arrosar come from this form with /s/.^[6]

Old Occitan had ros, still alive as Occitan ròs in parts of Languedoc and Gascony, and the Campidanese and Occitan forms likewise point to a neuter, while Romanian rouă continues the oblique form.^[7][8][6]

The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *rōs and Proto-Indo-European *h₁rōs (“dew, juice”), with cognates in Sanskrit रसा (rásā, “moisture”) and Lithuanian rasà (“dew”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines dates the first records to the end of the 13th century: the Vides de sants rosselloneses translate Latin ventum roris with vent de ròs, the breeze of dew that the angel blew on the three children in the furnace.^[2] Llull, in the Llibre de contemplació, asks who but God gives the rain and the dew.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed usual in the 15th century, in Sant Vicent Ferrer, the Curial e Güelfa and Roig's Spill;^[2][11] “the dew of heaven” became a set image of God's blessing.^[2][11] Part of the area kept the close /o/ of Latin and part opened it to /ɔ/.^[2] Carles Ros in 1736 still distinguished the surname Rós from ròs “dew”.^[2]

The usual word is now rosada, recorded from the 14th century, and its Mallorcan form rou.^[4] Ros survives in the far south of Valencia, in the Vall de Barravés and in Canejan in the Val d'Aran, and Pal·las and Fabra still list it.^[2][6][12] The DCVB adds the nectar that bees take from flowers.^[3]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – vent de ròs in the Vides de sants rosselloneses;^[2][10] Llull's Llibre de contemplació.^[2][10]
• 1298 – Jafuda Bonsenyor compares a little knowledge to dew falling on good land.^[11]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge: “after a long drought, dew”.^[2]
• 1460 – Roig's Spill has the dew falling on the penitent's naked back.^[11][2]
• 1736 – Carles Ros lists ròs “dew” among his near-homonyms.^[2]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary gives ros as a synonym of rou and rosada.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dialectal, archaic) dew; rosada.^[13][5][1]
2. (dialectal) The nectar of flowers, which bees make into honey.^[3][14]

Word family

• rosada
• rosar
• arrosar
• enrosar
• roinar
• roina

ros² blond

Etymology tree of ros²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin russus

Catalan ros

French roux

English roux

Italian rosso

Romanian roșu

From the same root · ros²

Latin russeus ← russus

Pronunciation

• Northern: [ˈrus]^[1]
• Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈros]^[1]

Forms

ros (feminine rossa, masculine plural rossos, feminine plural rosses)^[1]

Etymology

The word for blond is inherited from Old Catalan ros, which is inherited from Latin russus (“reddish, red”).^{[15][3][4][5][1]} The Latin word did not name the blond colour, which was flāvus, but a reddish one; it lived on in most of the Romance languages, with different shades of meaning.^[15]

The same Latin word is Italian rosso (“red”), French roux (“reddish, red-haired”), Occitan ros and roso.^[16][15] Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”), the root of ruber.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Llull's Llibre de l'orde de cavalleria, dated 1272 by Faraudo, fair looks and blond hair (rosses cabeyls) do not make a squire worthy of knighthood; in Blanquerna the young hero is white, red and blond.^[11][10][15]

Semantic evolution

The common use has always been for hair between red and yellow, tending to gold, and for the person who has it: Desclot describes King James I with fair hair like threads of gold, and Muntaner a fourteen-year-old maiden as the fairest and most rossa of all.^[15][11] Roussillon also applied it early to cloth and other things.^[15] The word is used everywhere in the language and pronounced with close /o/.^[15]

The derivatives are rossor (1490, in the Tirant), rossejar (1803), rossenc (1915) and enrossir (Oller).^[4] Modern dictionaries add the golden-brown colour that food takes on in cooking and that ripe ears of grain have.^[5][17]

Timeline

• 1272 – Llull's Llibre de l'orde de cavalleria: rosses cabeyls.^[11]
• Late 13th century – Desclot describes the fair hair of James I.^[15]
• 1325 – Muntaner's chronicle: la pus blanca e la pus rosa.^[11]
• 1460 – Roig's Spill: molt rossa, blancha, polida.^[11]
• 1490 – rossor in the Tirant lo Blanc.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of hair, blond, fair, between light brown and golden yellow.^[5][17][1]
2. Of a person or animal, fair-haired, blond; also as a noun: Va entrar una rossa amb ulleres.^[5][17]
3. Golden brown, of food browned in cooking or of ripe grain: Treu el pa quan sigui ben ros.^[5][17]

Word family

• rossor
• rossejar
• rossenc
• rosset
• enrossir