calesco

Forms

calēscō (present infinitive calēscere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is from caleō “to be warm” with the inchoative suffix -scō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ⟨caleō⟩ to Proto-Italic *kalē-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱl̥h₁-éh₁- (“to be hot”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Cato, of growing warm.^[2] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to grow warm or hot, to be heated, as in Cato and Lucretius, and Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.^[2][6] Figuratively it meant to grow hot with love or desire, as in Terence and Ovid, and to be stirred, as in Ovid's est deus in nōbīs, agitante calēscimus illō “there is a god in us; when he stirs, we glow”.^[2]

English borrowed it as the rare calesce.^[1]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of love.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of heat.^[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To grow warm or hot.^[2]
2. To be inflamed (with love); to be stirred.^[2]

Word family

• excalesco
• incalēscō
• percalescō
• recalescō
• concalēscō

Related words

• caleō
• calidus
• calor

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press