auritus

Forms

aurītus (feminine aurīta, neuter aurītum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin auris (“ear”) + -ītus.^[2][1] De Vaan traces auris to Proto-Italic *aus(i)- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu(-)s- (“ear”).^[3] Ancient grammarians, as reported by Paulus' epitome of Festus, said it was used both of large ears, as of asses and hares, and of the faculty of hearing.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,^[6] meaning “listening, attentive”: in the prologue of the Asinaria the herald is told to make the whole people aurītum, all ears.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Plautus contrasts one eyewitness with ten aurītī, witnesses by hearsay, and Horace has oaks that listen to the lyre.^[2][8] The sense “long-eared” is used by Afranius of an ass, by Virgil of hares, by Ovid of the ass and by Martial and Apuleius of other animals;^[2] Avienus uses the masculine as a noun for the hare.^[8] Pliny the Elder applies it to something shaped like an ear, and Palladius to something fitted with ear-like mouldboards.^[8][9] Prudentius uses it of laws only heard, not written down.^[8]

Medieval German sources keep the sense “long-eared”, of wild asses and hares, and also apply it to things fitted with loops.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for listening attentively.^[2][6]
• 2nd half of the 2nd century BC – Afranius uses it of a long-eared ass.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of long-eared hares.^[2][6]
• mid 4th century AD – Avienus uses it as a noun for the hare.^[8][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having ears; listening, attentive.^[2][4]
2. Having large ears, long-eared.^[2][4]
3. Shaped like an ear.^[8][9]
4. (agriculture) Fitted with ear-like mouldboards.^[8][9]
5. (Late Latin) Only heard, not written.^[8]
6. (Medieval Latin) Fitted with loops.^[10]

Word family

• auritulus
• inaurītus

Usage notes

Plautus' testis aurītus, a witness who has only heard something, is set against the oculātus testis, the eyewitness.^[2][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften