acidus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈa.kɪ.dʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.t͡ʃi.dus]^[1]

Forms

acidus (feminine acida, neuter acidum, comparative acidior, superlative acidissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from aceō “to be sour” with the suffix -idus.^[2][1][3][4] Köbler and Etymonline trace it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”).^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL and Lewis and Short cite Plautus' superlative acidissumum acētum “the sourest vinegar”.^[3][6] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant sour, tart, acid, as Virgil's sour rowan berries and Horace's elecampane, and in Lucilius of breath sour-smelling.^[2][6][7] In Martial it meant soaked in vinegar, and in Vitruvius acida were acid substances as solvents.^[2] In Petronius it meant grating, shrill, in Seneca sharp-tongued, and in Horace and Apuleius disagreeable.^[2][7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant sour, tart, harsh, sharp.^[8] It was borrowed into Italian as acido and French acide, and through French or directly it gave English acid in the 1620s.^[1][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses acidissumum acētum.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of sour berries.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the sharp-tongued.^[2][5]
• 1620s – English acid is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Sour, tart, acid; sour-smelling.^[2]
2. As a neuter plural noun, acid substances.^[2]
3. Grating, shrill.^[2]
4. Sharp-tongued.^[2]
5. Disagreeable.^[2]

Word family

• aciditās
• acidulus
• subacidus
• dulcacidus
• salmacidus
• acidē

Related words

• aceō
• acētum
• ācer
• English acid

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson