aeratus

Forms

aerātus (feminine aerāta, neuter aerātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin aes (“bronze, copper”) + -ātus.^[2][3][1] Lewis & Short note that Priscian speaks of a verb ⟨aerō⟩ beside ⟨aurō⟩, from which he derives this adjective and aurātus (“gilded”), but no example of it survives.^[4] De Vaan traces aes to Proto-Italic *ajos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ei-os (“bronze”), comparing Umbrian ahesnes (“made of bronze”) and Sanskrit अयस् (áyas-, “metal, iron”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius has it first, of a bronze-fitted ship, as Varro quotes him.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

It means fitted or decorated with bronze or brass: Varro explains the name of a Roman gate as from its bronze fittings, and Caesar mentions ships fitted with bronze.^[2][3] Virgil uses it of bronze-clad battle lines.^[2] It is also made of bronze, as Varro's bronze fetters, and in Ennius it is said of the ringing sound of bronze helmets.^[2] Wiktionary notes a sarcastic use of it for a rich man.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of a bronze-fitted ship.^[2][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of the clang of helmets.^[2][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of bronze-fitted ships.^[3][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of bronze-clad troops.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Fitted or decorated with bronze or brass; of troops, bronze-clad.^[2][4][1]
2. Made of bronze, brazen.^[2][1]
3. Of sounds, made by bronze.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de