ausus

Forms

ausus m (genitive ausūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin audeō (“to dare”), formed with the suffix of verbal nouns -tus.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Georges cites the phrase ductu ausuque suo (“under his own leadership and on his own initiative”) from the Bellum Alexandrinum.^[4] The TLL treats Petronius as the first author to use it; in the poem on the civil war in the Satyricon he has the plural insolitos ausus, unaccustomed ventures.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word means daring and initiative, and in the plural ventures or bold undertakings.^[2] After Petronius it is mostly used disapprovingly, often of the audacity of people acting against the law,^[3] as in the Theodosian Code's ausu gravi atque damnabili (“with a grave and damnable presumption”).^[4] Symmachus and the laws of the emperors Leo and Anthemius also have it.^[6][5]

Medieval Latin used it for daring and for a daring deed,^[7] in a bad sense for an outrage or for insolence, in a good one for courage and confidence;^[8] Walahfrid Strabo already has it in his poem on his garden.^[8]

Timeline

• before 66 AD – Petronius speaks of unaccustomed ventures (insolitos ausus).^[3][9]
• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it in his letters.^[6][9]
• 2nd quarter of the 9th century – Walahfrid Strabo uses it in his poem on gardening.^[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Daring, initiative.^[2][4]
2. (plural) Ventures, bold undertakings.^[2][5]
3. (Late Latin) A reckless or unlawful act, presumption.^[3][4]
4. (Medieval Latin) A daring deed; courage, confidence.^[7][8]

Usage notes

Ausus is also the perfect participle of audeō, “having dared”.^[5][6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de