austerus

Forms

austērus (feminine austēra, neuter austērum, comparative austērior); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek αὐστηρός (austērós, “harsh, bitter, sour”).^[2][1][3] Etymonline notes that the Greek word was used especially of fruits that dry the tongue.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato uses it in the De agri cultura of dry dark wine,^[2] and Lucilius of the juices of very bitter herbs.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is of taste, sour or harsh, and of wine, dry: Celsus and Columella use it so.^[2][6] Pliny the Elder extends it to a pungent smell, a dark, sombre colour of purple dye, and a harsh climate.^[2] Of people and conduct it is strict, stern or austere: Cicero uses it in the De oratore of severe critics and of a sweetness in an orator that is austere and solid.^[2] Of style it is plain and unornamented, as Horace says of austere poems that the young knights pass by.^[2] Döderlein contrasts it with sevērus: the austērus seeks the serious and real in learning and company, at the risk of seeming dull, while severity is a moral quality.^[7] Forms of the third declension (austēr, austēre) occur in Scribonius Largus and Celsus,^[2][6] and the grammarians argued over them.^[5] In Medieval Latin it can mean steady or powerful.^[8] English austere comes from it, partly through Old French, in the early 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato, of dry wine.^[2][3]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, of bitter herbs.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of stern critics.^[2][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace, of plain poems.^[2][3]
• early 14th century – austere appears in English.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Sour, bitter, harsh in taste; of wine, dry.^[2][6][1]
2. Of a smell, pungent; of colour, dark, sombre; of climate, rigorous.^[2][1]
3. Austere, strict, stern; of work, rigorous.^[2][1][9]
4. Of style, plain, unornamented, severe.^[2][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) Steady, powerful.^[8]

Word family

• austēritās
• austerulus
• subaustērus

Related words

• sevērus
• English austere

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson