aerugo

Forms

aerūgō f (genitive aerūginis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin aes (“copper, bronze”) + -ūgō, from the oblique stem ⟨aer-⟩.^[2][1] Lewis and Short compare ferrūgō (“iron rust”) from ferrum (“iron”), and the TLL compares aerūca.^[3][4] De Vaan traces the base to Proto-Indo-European *h₂ei-os (“bronze”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato's farm manual has it first, promising that rust will not be a nuisance: aerūgō nōn erit molesta.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the rust of copper or bronze, verdigris:^[2][3] Cicero says that Corinthian bronze falls into rust, and Pliny the Elder notes that verdigris made from it has many uses.^[3] The Vulgate speaks of the rust of gold and silver,^[3] and Juvenal uses it of money, an old purse returned with all its rust.^[2][3]

Figuratively it is a canker of the mind:^[2] Horace calls malice aerūgō mera, pure verdigris, and also uses it for avarice.^[2][3] In Church Latin it is also mildew or blight.^[7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for copper rust.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero says Corinthian bronze rusts.^[3][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of malice and avarice.^[2][3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes verdigris.^[3][6]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of money.^[2][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate speaks of the rust of gold and silver.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Copper rust, verdigris.^[2][3]
2. Rust of other metals;^[2][3] (figuratively) money.^[2][3]
3. (figurative) A canker of the mind: envy, ill will, avarice.^[2][3]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Mildew, blight.^[7]

Word family

• aerūginō
• aerūginōsus

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson