Etymologically
Log in

aerumnosus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 12:55. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ae̯.rʊmˈnoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [e.rumˈnɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

aerumnōsus (feminine aerumnōsa, neuter aerumnōsum, superlative aerumnōsissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin aerumna (“toil, hardship”) + -ōsus.[2][1][3] The origin of aerumna is unknown: it is often taken as a loan of Ancient Greek αἰρομένη (airoménē), a participle, but de Vaan notes that Greek never uses this form as a noun meaning “burden”, and an Etruscan source, often proposed, cannot be proved.[4] Isidore derived it from that noun and explained it as one who is hungry and thirsty for want.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest quotation in the OLD is from Plautus, who has Vlixem audivi fuisse aerumnosissimum, “I have heard that Ulysses suffered very many hardships”;[2] Köbler dates it only from Cicero.[3]

Semantic evolution

It describes people who suffer hardship and misery,[2][6] and, less often, things that cause it, as in a tragic line of Accius quoted by Cicero about sailing on a “sea of troubles”.[2][6][7] Cicero uses it in a list beside miser, afflictus and calamitōsus, and Lewis & Short note that he has it only once in his speeches.[6] Seneca has nihil est aerumnōsius sapiente, “nothing is more wretched than the wise man”.[7][6] Medieval writers in Britain used it of this “wretched” world and of distressing errors.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the superlative of Ulysses.[2][3]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius has aerumnōsum salum, “a calamitous sea”.[6][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in his philosophical works and once in the Verrines.[6][3]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses the comparative.[6][3]
  • Medieval Latin – Anselm and other British writers use it of a wretched world.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Full of hardship, wretched, miserable.[2][6][1]
  2. Causing distress, calamitous.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press