Etymologically
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assus

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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

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