Etymologically
Log in

adultus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

adultus (feminine adulta, neuter adultum); first/second-declension participle[1]

Etymology

It is the perfect participle of adolēscō “to grow up”, used as an adjective.[2][3] De Vaan explains ad-ultus, like altus, from Proto-Italic *alto- (“fed, raised”), Proto-Indo-European *h₂l-to-, the participle of the root of alō “to nourish”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards.[4] In Plautus a man has a sister, “a grown-up girl”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant full-grown, of persons, animals and plants, and with aetas a mature age.[2][5] Of a time or season it meant at its height, as Tacitus' night well advanced, and of states and qualities firmly established, as Cicero's “this plague, so fully grown in the state”.[2]

It also meant distended, and of hair fully grown.[2] In medieval Latin adultus was also a noun, an adult.[6] French and English adult are learned borrowings from it.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a grown-up girl.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a mature age and of a fully grown evil.[2][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the advanced night.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Full-grown, adult.[2][1]
  2. Mature, ripe (of age).[2]
  3. At its height (of a season or time).[2]
  4. Firmly established, in full strength.[2]
  5. Distended, (of hair) fully grown.[2]
  6. (noun, Medieval Latin) An adult.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de