abundans

Forms

abundāns (genitive abundantis; comparative abundantior, superlative abundantissimus); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin abundō (“to overflow, be plentiful”).^[1][2][3] De Vaan lists abundō under unda “wave”, which he traces to Proto-Italic *udōr (“water”) and Proto-Indo-European *ud-ōr (“water”), comparing Umbrian utur (“water”) and Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation in the OLD is Accius, of the overflowing ancient river and the rapid waves of the Inachus.^[1] Köbler dates it from Virgil.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Of rivers it is overflowing, in flood; of liquids copious or excessive, as of a discharge in Pliny the Elder; and of places damp, as in Vitruvius.^[1] Suetonius uses it of letters that run over the end of a line.^[1] With a genitive or ablative it is abounding in: the Rhetorica ad Herennium has a man lacking virtue but abounding in good fortune, and Livy writes of the excess of pleasures that brought a longing for luxury and ruin.^[1] Quintilian has the phrase ex abundantī, as something extra.^[1] In rhetoric Cicero calls Timaeus most abundant in matter and variety of thought, and says of an orator that he was not copious, yet not poor.^[1] It also means wealthy: Cicero contrasts the furniture of a luxurious man with that of a wealthy one.^[1] Church Latin glosses it rich, abundant, overflowing.^[5]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of an overflowing river.^[1][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a copious style and of wealth.^[1][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil.^[3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of abundant pleasures.^[1][3]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of ex abundantī.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of rivers, overflowing, in flood; of liquids, copious; of places, damp.^[1][5]
2. Abounding (in), rich (in).^[1][5]
3. Plentiful, abundant;^[1][5] ex abundantī, superfluously.^[1][5]
4. Of style, copious, exuberant.^[1]
5. Wealthy, affluent.^[1]

Related words

• abundō
• unda

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson