assus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈas.sʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈas.sus]^[1]

Forms

assus (feminine assa, neuter assum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *asso- (“dried, roasted”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂d-to- (“dried up”), a participle of the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂ed- (“to dry”).^[2][1] Cognate with Umbrian aso (“burning?”), Ancient Greek ἄζω (ázō, “to dry”), Hittite hāt- (“to dry up”) and Czech ozditi (“to dry malt”).^[2][3] Ernout and Meillet derived it from *arsus “burnt”, from ardeō, and others from āreō “to be dry”, which de Vaan finds less likely.^[2][4] An inscription has the accusative asom.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An early inscription has asom ferō, “I bring roast meat”.^[4] De Vaan dates it in literature from Plautus.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant roasted or baked, as Plautus' bread and roast beef that steady the belly and Horace's roast thrushes.^[4][6] Of baths and sweating it meant dry, without water, of stonework laid without mortar, and assa nūtrīx was a dry-nurse.^[4] In music assā vōce meant with the unaccompanied voice, without instruments.^[4] Servius explains assae tībiae as pipes played alone, without a chorus.^[7]

In Medieval Latin assa was a roast.^[8]

Timeline

• Archaic period – An inscription has asom ferō.^[4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of roast beef.^[4][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace speaks of roast thrushes.^[6][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus speaks of dry sweating baths.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Roasted, baked.^[4]
2. (Of baths) dry, without water, (of stonework) without mortar.^[4]
3. (music) assā vōce, with the unaccompanied voice.^[4]

Word family

• assa
• assefolium
• assō
• assum

Related words

• āreō
• ardeō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ 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