Etymologically
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accuratus

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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]

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