Etymologically
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acidus

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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

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