adorno

Forms

adōrnō (present infinitive adōrnāre, perfect active adōrnāvī, supine adōrnātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + ōrnō (“to equip, adorn”).^[2][1] De Vaan takes ōrnō as the original denominative verb of ōrdō (“row, order”), with a specialised sense, from Proto-Italic *ord-n- (“row, order”); he finds a link with the root of artus (“joint, limb”) attractive, which would give Proto-Indo-European *h₂or-d-, though such an extension of the root is not otherwise attested.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3] who has “have clean vessels made ready for me”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to get ready or prepare, and to make arrangements, as Plautus' “prepare the wedding”.^[2] Lewis & Short note that it is frequent in Plautus and Cicero.^[4] It is used of equipping ships in Caesar and of furnishing seas with fleets and garrisons in Cicero.^[2] Pliny the Elder has women adorning themselves, and it means to decorate places and things, to honour someone with gifts or distinctions, as Livy's Numa giving a priest a robe and a curule chair, and to endow with talents, as in Velleius.^[2] Quintilian uses it of embellishing a speech.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “provide, furnish, prepare, adorn”.^[5] English adorn comes from it through Old French, recorded from the late 14th century.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of preparing vessels and a wedding.^[2][3][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of seas furnished with fleets.^[2][7]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of equipping ships.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of honouring with a robe and chair.^[2][7]
• late 14th century – English adorn, through Old French.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To get ready, prepare; to make arrangements for.^[2][4][1]
2. To equip ships; to furnish with military forces.^[2][4][1]
3. To array or attire oneself; to beautify.^[2]
4. To decorate, adorn.^[2][1]
5. To honour with gifts or distinctions; to endow with talents.^[2]
6. To embellish with words.^[2][1]

Word family

• superadornō
• adōrnātē

Related words

• ōrnō
• ōrdō
• exōrnō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de