Etymologically
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aureus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈau̯.re.ʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaːu̯.re.us][1]

Forms

aureus (feminine aurea, neuter aureum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin aurum (“gold”) + -eus.[2][1] aurum goes back to Proto-Italic *auso-, and Driessen reconstructs a reduplicated Proto-Indo-European *h₂é-h₂us-o- (“glow”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Livius Andronicus, the author of the OLD's first citation.[4][2] Plautus has Amphitruōnī patera dōnāta aurea est, “Amphitryon was given a golden bowl”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Aureus is “made of gold” (Cicero: nōn inaurāta statua, sed aurea, “not a gilded statue but a golden one”), “gilded”, and of rivers “gold-bearing”.[2][5][1] It is “golden, shining like gold” (Ennius: aureus exoritur sōl, “the golden sun rises”), and “splendid, beautiful” (Plautus: ocellus aureus, “golden eye”, as an endearment, Virgil: Venus aurea).[2][1] Aurea aetās and aurea saecula are the Golden Age under Saturn.[2]

As a noun aureus is a gold coin, worth twenty-five silver denarii at Rome.[2][1][6] Church Latin glosses the adjective “golden, of gold”.[6]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.[2][4]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: aureus exoritur sōl.[2][4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: a golden bowl;[2][4] ocellus aureus.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: aurea … saecula.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Made of gold, golden.[2][5][1][6]
  2. Gilded.[2][1]
  3. Gold-bearing.[2]
  4. Golden, shining like gold.[2][1]
  5. Splendid, beautiful, excellent.[2][1]
  6. aurea aetās: the Golden Age.[2]

Noun

  1. A gold coin worth twenty-five denarii.[2][1][6]

Word family

  • aureātus
  • aureolus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson