amaror

Forms

amāror m (genitive amārōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin amārus (“bitter”) + -or.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of amārus, whose own origin is unclear; of the comparisons proposed, he finds Sanskrit अम्ल (amlá-, “sour, acid”) and Old Norse apr (“sharp, cold”) semantically more convincing than the Greek and Armenian words for “raw”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first occurs in Lucretius, of the bitterness that reaches the mouth when one watches diluted wormwood being mixed.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short describe it as a rare poetic word for amāritūdō.^[6] In the Georgics (2.247) Virgil says that salty soil reveals itself when bitterness twists the mouths of those who taste it; this reading was defended by Hyginus, as Aulus Gellius reports, while Macrobius and some manuscripts read ⟨amāro⟩.^[5][7] Caelius Aurelianus names a bitter taste in the mouth among the signs of jaundice.^[5]

Medieval Latin used it figuratively for harshness and bitterness, and for sadness.^[8] Köbler records it in the Carmina Burana.^[9]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the bitter taste of wormwood.^[5][9]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Georgics, of the taste of salty soil.^[5][6]
• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius reports Hyginus' defence of this reading in Virgil.^[5][6]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus lists it among the signs of jaundice.^[5][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bitter taste, bitterness.^[2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin, figurative) Harshness, bitterness; sadness.^[8]

Related words

• amārus
• amāritūdō

Usage notes

Wiktionary marks it as a rare poetic synonym of amāritūdō.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de