Etymologically
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astutus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aːsˈtuː.tʊs], [asˈtuː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [asˈtuː.tus][1]

Forms

ā̆stūtus (feminine ā̆stūta, neuter ā̆stūtum, comparative astūtior, adverb astūtē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin astus (“cunning”) + -ūtus.[2][3][1][4] The origin of the noun is uncertain:[5] the Romans derived its old ablative ⟨astū⟩ from Ancient Greek ἄστυ (ástu, “town”), and Vendryes from a stem ⟨*ad-stu-⟩ "standing by", from astō (“to stand by”).[4] Döderlein connected it with acuō (“to sharpen”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[4][7] whose Pseudolus needs a man who is cunning, learned, careful and clever.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means cunning, crafty, astute, of people and of actions:[2] Plautus has a trick more cunning than any poet ever devised, and the Rhetorica ad Herennium a more cunning plan.[2] Lewis & Short note that it is more often used in a bad sense, sly or designing, than of shrewdness.[8] Döderlein sets it beside callidus: both are cunning as a mark of cleverness, but astūtus is sharpness in planning and carrying out a secret scheme.[6] The comparative is usual from Plautus on, and the superlative appears in Augustine.[3] Stelten glosses it in Church Latin as "wise, prudent".[9] English borrowed it in the 1610s as astute.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a cunning man.[2][4][7]
  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of a cunning plan.[2][7]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses the superlative.[3]
  • 1610s – Borrowed into English as astute.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Cunning, crafty, astute, shrewd; sly.[2][8][1]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Wise, prudent.[9]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson