acutus

Forms

acūtus (feminine acūta, neuter acūtum); first and second declension; comparative acūtior, superlative acūtissimus^[1]

Etymology

It is the past participle of acuō (“to sharpen”) used as an adjective.^[1][2][3] De Vaan puts the verb with acus (“needle”) and acūmen (“sharp point”), from a Proto-Italic *aku- that continues the Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-u- (“pointed”), a stem in ⟨u⟩ from the root for sharpness; outside Italic he compares Lithuanian ašutas (“hair of a horse's tail or mane”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Epidicus: acūtum cultrum habeō, “I have a sharp knife”.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is sharpened or pointed; it is also naturally pointed or tapering, as Plautus' sharp nose and the pine with sharp needles in Ovid.^[1] Of sounds it is high-pitched or shrill, as early as Ennius' trumpet, and in grammar and music it is the high or acute tone and accent, opposed to gravis in Cicero.^[1] Of the senses it is keen (Plautus' sharp eyes), of perceptions clear, pungent, or piercingly cold, as Horace's rivers frozen by sharp frost.^[1] Of illness it is acute or violent, and of people keen-witted and shrewd, as Varro calls Chrysippus.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “sharp, keen, pointed, acute”, and bis acūtus is “two-edged”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a sharp knife and keen eyes.^[1][3]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of shrill sounds.^[1][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the acute tone.^[1][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of a sharp frost and an acute illness.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Sharpened, pointed, sharp.^[1][6][5]
2. Naturally pointed, tapering, (of angles) acute.^[1]
3. (of sounds) High-pitched, shrill, (of accent) acute.^[1][6]
4. (of the senses) Keen, (of perceptions) clear, pungent, piercingly cold.^[1]
5. (of diseases) Acute, violent.^[1]
6. (of persons, the mind) Keen-witted, shrewd.^[1][6]

Word family

• acūtālis
• acutulus

Related words

• acuō
• acus
• acūmen
• aculeus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org