accuratus

Forms

accūrātus (feminine accūrāta, neuter accūrātum); first/second-declension adjective; comparative accūrātior, superlative accūrātissimus^[1] Also spelled adcūrātus.^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin accūrō (“to take care of”).^[1][2] The verb is formed from ad- (“to”) and cūra (“care”) or cūrō (“to take care of”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Plautus,^[5] who has malitiam accuratam, a carefully worked-out trick.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero it describes careful speech and writing: accuratius dicendi genus, a more polished style of speaking, and very careful letters.^[2][6] Livy has a stricter levy, and Gellius says that Demosthenes was thought too elaborate in dress.^[2] Georges notes that it is used only of things, while dīligēns is used of persons.^[6] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it in the sense “accurate, exact”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a carefully worked-out trick.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of polished speech and careful letters.^[2][6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a stricter levy.^[2][5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of overelaborate dress.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Carefully done or prepared, studied, meticulous.^[1][2]
2. (of speech and writing) Polished, elaborate, detailed.^[6][2]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Accurate, exact.^[7]

Related words

• accūrō
• accūrātē
• cūra
• Italian accurato

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson