Etymologically
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albesco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aɫˈbeːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [alˈbɛs.ko][1]

Forms

albēscō (present infinitive albēscere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems[1]

Etymology

It is an inchoative verb, from Latin albeō (“to be white”) + -scō,[2][3][4] and albeō is formed from albus (“white”).[5][1] De Vaan traces albus to Proto-Italic *alfo- (“white”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰ-o- (“white”).[6] Cognate with Umbrian alfu (“white”) and Ancient Greek ἀλφός (alphós, “dull-white leprosy”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucretius,[6][2] who says that the surface of the sea could in no way turn white.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly poetic or post-Augustan, and Cicero has it once,[4] of the sea that turns white and quivers where the sun shines on it.[2][4] Horace uses it of hair whitening with age,[2] Pliny the Elder of wine turning pale with keeping,[2] and Gellius of growing pale, as it were, with fear.[2] Virgil uses it of streaks of fire glowing white,[7] and of daylight whitening at dawn; the ablative absolute albēscente caelō means “at daybreak”.[2][4][8]

Augustine uses it impersonally for “it dawns”.[7] Medieval writers use it of whitening, growing pale or white-hot, and figuratively of fields white for the harvest of the faithful.[9] English albescent (1825) comes from its present participle.[10]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the sea turning white.[2][11]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it once, of the sea gleaming in the sun.[4][11]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of light at dawn and of streaks of fire.[8][7][11]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of hair turning white.[2][11]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it impersonally, “it dawns”.[7][11]
  • 1825 – English forms albescent from its present participle.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To become white; to turn white with age.[2][4]
  2. To become light in colour; to grow pale.[2][7]
  3. To become bright, gleam, glow;[2][4] albēscente caelō, at dawn.[2][4]
  4. (Late Latin, impersonal) albēscit, it dawns.[7][3]

Word family

  • exalbēscō
  • inalbēscō

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 n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de