aerusco

Forms

aeruscō (present infinitive aeruscāre); first conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is probably a denominative verb in -ō from a lost adjective, inherited from Proto-Italic *aisos-ko- (“demanding”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eis-os- (“request”).^[2][1] The Umbrian verb form eiscurent (“they will demand”) may continue a verb Proto-Indo-European *h₂is-ske- directly.^[2]

Cognates outside Italic come from the same root, with a zero grade in Indo-Iranian and Slavic and a full grade elsewhere: Sanskrit इच्छति (icháti, “seeks”), Avestan isaite (“seeks”), Lithuanian ieškóti (“to look for”), Latvian iẽskât and Old High German eiscōn (“to investigate, demand”).^[2] The OLD compares the Sanskrit and Lithuanian verbs,^[3] while the TLL calls the origin uncertain.^[4] Festus explained it from aes (“bronze, money”), as gathering coins from all sides;^[5][6] Lewis & Short and Georges report this.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Gellius, who uses the participle aeruscāns of a begging philosopher.^{[5][6][5][7][8]}

Semantic evolution

It is a rare word, known from Gellius and the grammarians.^[2][3] The epitome of Festus glosses it as collecting money from everywhere, and Lewis & Short describe it as earning money by going about with juggler's tricks.^[5] Ancient glossaries explain the participle as scraping together small change.^[4] A reading of it in Seneca's De clementia is a false conjecture.^[6] The agent noun aeruscātor is derived from it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a begging philosopher.^[6][3][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To beg, go begging.^[3][9][7]
2. To get money by going about and performing tricks; to play the juggler.^[5][1]

Word family

• aeruscātor

Related words

• quaerō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier