aquaticus

Forms

aquāticus (feminine aquātica, neuter aquāticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin aqua (“water”) + -āticus.^[2][3] The noun aqua goes back to Proto-Italic *akʷā- (“water”), and its cognates are Germanic: Gothic 𐌰𐍈𐌰 (aƕa) and Old High German aha, from Proto-Germanic *aχwō (“water”).^[4] De Vaan notes that this Germano-Italic word may well be a loanword from a non-Indo-European language.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ovid has the earliest recorded use, in the Metamorphoses:^[5][6] there it describes the rain-bringing south wind^[7][6] and a lotus growing in water.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant “of water”, “watery” (Pliny's limus aquaticus, watery mud), and of winds “rainy”.^[2][6] Of plants and animals it meant living or growing in or by water, aquatic: Pliny speaks of water birds and of the long necks of aquatic animals.^[2][7] Pliny also names a spongy kind of bread panis aquaticus, made light with water.^[2] The neuter plural aquātica was used as a noun for marshy places.^[6][3]

Christian Latin kept the sense “watery, moist”.^[8] Medieval writers used it for anything made of or full of water, and for plants and animals of the water;^[9][10] British sources also have it as a noun for a water spaniel.^[10] Old French developed popular forms such as ewage,^[1] and English aquatic comes from Old French aquatique, the learned form of the same Latin word.^[11]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a rainy wind and of a water lotus.^[2][6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of water birds, aquatic animals, watery mud and a kind of bread.^[2][7][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has it in the Book of Wisdom.^[12][5]
• late 15th century – English borrows aquatic through French.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to water, watery;^[2][6] (of winds) rainy.^[2][6]
2. (of plants) Growing in water or wet places, aquatic.^[2][7]
3. (of animals) Living in or near water.^[2][7]
4. panis aquaticus: a light, spongy bread.^[2]
5. (neuter plural as noun) Marshes, wet ground.^[6][3]
6. (Medieval Latin, as noun) A water spaniel.^[10]

Word family

• aquatica

Related words

• English aquatic

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften