Etymologically
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aduro

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aˈduː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈduː.ro][1]

Forms

adūrō (present infinitive adūrere, perfect active adussī, supine adustum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + ūrō (“to burn”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ūrō to Proto-Italic *ouse/o- (“to burn”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁eus-e/o- (“to burn”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek εὕω (heúō, “to singe”) and Old Norse ysja (“fire”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's earliest examples are of food: in Terence's Adelphoe a cook complains “this is too salty, this burnt”, and Cato uses it too.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to damage by fire, scorch or char, as Cicero's Indian sages who burn without a groan, and to burn up, as Horace's bones burnt in Colchian flames.[2][5] Lucretius uses it of bright light that often burns the eyes.[5] It is also to dry out, as grapes in the sun in Varro, and in medicine to cauterize, as in Celsus.[2] Of cold and wind it means to nip or shrivel, as Virgil's piercing cold of the north wind, and of pests to blight, as Pliny the Elder's locusts; it also means to sting or chafe the skin.[2] Propertius uses the participle of Cleopatra branded by the blood of Philip's line.[2] Church Latin glosses it burn, set on fire, kindle.[6]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of burnt food.[3][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of light burning the eyes.[5][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of sages burnt without a groan.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of frost nipping the fields.[2][7]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of cauterizing an abscess.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To scorch, singe, char; to burn up.[2][5][6][1]
  2. To make dry.[2]
  3. (medicine) To cauterize; to prune by burning; to singe hair.[2]
  4. To imprint as a brand.[2]
  5. To cause a burning sensation, sting; to chafe.[2]
  6. Of cold or wind, to nip, shrivel; to blight.[2][5]

Word family

  • adustiō
  • adustum
  • inadustus

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 l m n 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 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 c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de