astrictus

Forms

astrictus (feminine astricta, neuter astrictum, comparative astrictior); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2] Also spelled adstrictus.^[1][3][4]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect passive participle from Latin astringō (“to bind fast, tighten”).^[1][2] That verb is formed from ad- and stringō (“to tie, tighten”), which in this sense de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *strenge/o- (“to tie”) and Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“to draw, tie”).^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek στραγγός (strangós, “twisted”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is its first author.^[4] In De oratore he calls the poet a near neighbour of the orator, a little more bound by rhythm, numerīs astrictior paulō, but freer in his choice of words.^[1]

Semantic evolution

From “bound, tied” it was used of prose bound by rhythm, as in Cicero, and in Sallust of people busy with or intent on something.^[1] Of the body it meant tight or compact: Celsus uses it of a constipated bowel and of a constricted kind of disease, and Quintilian of the narrow flanks of a handsome horse.^[1][2] Horace's loose sock, nōn astrictō soccō, stands for careless writing.^[2][3]

Of style it meant terse or concise: Cicero calls the Stoics' speech more terse, and Tacitus says this of Calvus.^[1] Of people it meant sparing or thrifty, as of a stingy father in Propertius;^[1] Tacitus calls Vespasian the chief model of a thrifty way of life.^[1] Pliny the Elder uses it of an astringent taste.^[1][3]

In Medieval Latin Köbler records a noun astrictus “contraction, constraint” in a letter of Hildegard and “one held fast” in Otto of Freising,^[4] and the DMLBS a sense “obligation” in a document of 1399.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of language bound by rhythm.^[1][4]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of people intent on something.^[1][4]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of a thrifty father.^[1][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a constipated bowel.^[1][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of an astringent taste.^[1][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus calls Vespasian a model of thrift.^[1][4]
• 1157–1158 – Otto of Freising uses a noun astrictus for one held fast.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bound (by rules or rhythm), tied.^[1][3]
2. Busy or preoccupied (with), intent (on).^[1]
3. Constricted, tight, compact; of the bowels, constipated.^[1][2]
4. Restrained; of style, terse, concise.^[1]
5. Sparing, parsimonious.^[1][3]
6. (of taste) Astringent.^[1][3]

Related words

• stringō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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