-osus

Forms

-ōsus (feminine -ōsa, neuter -ōsum); first/second-declension suffix^[1]

Etymology

The suffix continues older -ōssus, since a single /s/ would have become /r/ between vowels.^[2][1] The spelling with ⟨ss⟩ is ascribed to the ancients by Marius Victorinus and turns up in manuscripts and inscriptions, as in ⟨RELIGIOSSAE⟩ from Tarentum, of the 1st century BC.^[2] The explanation Weiss calls the most plausible, first put forward by Wackernagel, is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *-h₃d-s-o-s, the second member of a compound built on the s-stem *h₃éd-os (“smell”), the source also of odor.^[2][1] On this view it first meant “smelling like”, as still perhaps in hircōsus (“smelling like a goat”), and later “full of”.^[2][1] Compare Ancient Greek -ώδης (-ṓdēs, “smelling like; full of”), from the same noun, and Old Armenian -ոտ (-ot), with the same change of meaning.^[2][1] Alternatively it has been derived from *-wénts by way of a form such as *-wont-to-,^[1] but Sihler objects that this needs the /n/ to disappear so early that it leaves no trace in spelling.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, of about 250–184 BC,^[4] already has hircōsus, odiōsus (“distasteful”), religiōsus (“superstitious”) and vīnōsus (“given to wine”).^[2] In the words of this period it makes adjectives from nouns, describing someone or something as marked by or given to the thing named.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Whatever its first sense, the suffix came to mean “rich in, full of”, added chiefly to nouns.^[2][5] It grew by enlargement into -iōsus, regular after nouns in -iō as in sēditiōsus, -uōsus as in montuōsus, and -culōsus as in somniculōsus.^[5] It was also added to existing adjectives, as in bellicōsus from bellicus and ēbriōsus from ēbrius, where it marks a habit rather than a state.^[2] English -ous and -ose go back to it.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses hircōsus, odiōsus, religiōsus and vīnōsus.^[2][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato has aquōsus and morbōsus.^[2][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence has fōrmōsus and scelerōsus.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero has ēbriōsus, built on an adjective.^[2][4]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forms adjectives from nouns meaning “rich in” or “full of”: aquōsus, damnōsus, cadāverōsus.^[5]
2. Forms adjectives meaning prone to or given to something: hircōsus, vīnōsus.^[1][2]
3. Added to adjectives, it marks a settled habit: ēbriōsus from ēbrius.^[2]

Word family

• -iōsus
• -uōsus
• -culōsus
• aquōsus
• damnōsus
• scelerōsus
• religiōsus
• sēditiōsus
• cūriōsus
• labōriōsus
• montuōsus
• metuculōsus
• somniculōsus
• hircōsus
• vīnōsus
• fōrmōsus
• odiōsus
• morbōsus
• bellicōsus
• ēbriōsus

Related words

• English -ous
• English -ose

Usage notes

Seneca separates the two adjectives: someone who is ebrius may be drunk for the first time, while someone who is ebriosus is a drunkard even when sober.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Weiss, Michael (2020), Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, 2nd ed., Ann Arbor: Beech Stave
3. ^ Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, New York: OUP
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com