lachrymose

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlækrɪˌməʊs/, /ˈlækrɪˌməʊz/ (UK); /ˈlækrəˌmoʊs/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lacrimosus (“tearful, sorrowful”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from lacrima “tear”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a dialect-altered borrowing of Greek dákruma “tear”.^[4] The -ch- and -y- spellings arose from medieval spelling habits and the former belief that the word was Greek.^[4] It is related to lachrymal.^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tear-like; exuding in drops (1661).^[3][4][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense “given to tears, tearful” is from 1727,^[3][4][5][7] and “mournful, tending to cause tears” from 1822.^[4][7] Etymonline explains the change of Greek d to Latin l as the so-called Sabine l.^[4]

Timeline

• 1661 – tear-like.^[3][7]
• 1727 – tearful.^[3][5][7]
• 1822 – mournful.^[4][7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Weeping or inclined to weep; tearful.
2. Causing or tending to cause tears; mournful.

Word family

• lachrymosely
• lachrymosity

Related words

• lachrymatory
• lachrymal
• tear

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press