assiduus

Forms

assiduus (feminine assidua, neuter assiduum, superlative assiduissimus, adverb assiduē); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled adsiduus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin assideō (“to sit by”) + -uus, formed like continuus from contineō.^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of sedeō (“to sit”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sed-eh₁- (“to be seated”).^[4]

Roman scholars explained the old legal sense “wealthy” differently: Aelius, as quoted by Cicero, and Quintilian and Gellius derived it from as and dō (“to give”), “paying in coin”.^[3] Lewis & Short follow them and give the noun “taxpayer” an entry of its own.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is the Twelve Tables: adsiduō vindex adsiduus estō, “for a landholder the guarantor shall be a landholder”.^[2][3][5] There it describes a citizen with property, the opposite of a prōlētārius.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Cicero says that Servius Tullius called the rich assiduī, and Gellius uses the old contrast in a figure: a first-class writer is assiduus, not prōlētārius.^[3][2]

The common sense comes from sitting by something: Plautus speaks of giving constant attention to the forum, Cato of men always at hand, and Cicero of a son who stayed on the family estates.^[2][3] From there it described anything persistent or unceasing: a fever that does not let up, rakes in constant use, the restless sea in Virgil.^[2] In Pliny the Younger it can mean simply ordinary or everyday.^[2] English assiduous, first recorded in the 1530s, comes from it.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it of a landholding citizen.^[2][4][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of constant attention.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a son who stays on the estates.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the ceaseless sea.^[2][5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius calls a first-class writer assiduus.^[2][3][5]
• 1530s – English assiduous is formed from it.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of citizens) Holding land, wealthy, as opposed to the prōlētāriī;^[2][3] (figurative) first-class.^[2][3]
2. Constantly present, regularly in attendance.^[2][3]
3. Persistent, unremitting; busy, diligent.^[2][3][7]
4. (of actions and states) Continual, incessant;^[2][3][1] (of water) restless.^[2][3][1]
5. Commonplace, everyday.^[2]

Word family

• assiduitās
• assiduō
• assiduē

Related words

• assideō
• English assiduous

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson