ceroso

Forms

ceroso (feminine cerosa, masculine plural cerosi, feminine plural cerose)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin cērōsus (“containing wax”), from cēra (“wax”) and the suffix -ōsus.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} GRADIT and Devoto–Oli derive it in Italian from cera with -oso, and Wiktionary calls it inherited.^[8][9][1] The LEI counts it among the learned forms of the Latin word, which Pliny uses.^[6]

The same Latin word was taken into French cereux (1562), Catalan cerós (before 1478), Spanish ceroso and Portuguese ceroso (1873).^[6] De Vaan thinks Latin cēra is probably a loan, from an unknown language or directly from Ancient Greek κηρός (kērós, “wax”).^[10]

The chemical sense, of compounds of trivalent cerium, is formed separately from cerio with the same suffix, after céreux.^[8][3][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The LEI's first record is a Florentine recipe book of 1499, where the waxy part of honey is to be separated by boiling: “tanto che la stiuma e la parte cerosa si separi” (until the scum and the waxy part separate).^[6][11] Grazzini, before 1584, writes of “il ceroso e dolcissimo mele” (the waxy and very sweet honey).^[12][11]

Semantic evolution

The sense “like wax” is recorded from Melzi's dictionary of 1922–1926.^[6] The chemical sense entered the dictionaries in 1865.^[8][13]

In the dialects the Latin word took several meanings by the colour of wax.^[6] Corsican calls ripe white grapes cerôsa, Calabrian cerusu means pale or livid, and Sicilian cirusu means both pale and surly.^[6] In Bergamo a noun ceros meant a floor (1429), and cirós means concrete there.^[6]

Timeline

• 1499 – Ceroso, containing wax, in a Florentine recipe book.^[6]
• Before 1584 – Grazzini uses it of honey.^[12][6]
• 1865 – The chemical sense, of cerium compounds.^[8]
• 1922–1926 – Ceroso “like wax” in Melzi.^[6]
• 1999 – Afide ceroso del cavolo, the mealy cabbage aphid.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing wax: la parte cerosa del favo.^[8][3][4]
2. waxy, like wax in look or texture: Le foglie della pianta hanno una patina cerosa.^[8][3][2]
3. (chemistry) cerous: of compounds of trivalent cerium.^[8][9][4]

Related words

• cera
• cerio

Usage notes

GRADIT records afide ceroso del cavolo (the cabbage aphid) and opale cerosa.^[8] In chemistry ceroso is paired with cerico, which names the compounds richer in oxygen.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 1145
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 1003
12. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 1, 1353