calvus

Forms

calvus (feminine calva, neuter calvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kale/owo-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *klH-e/ou̯o- (“bald”).^[2] Since ⟨*lw⟩ gives Latin ⟨ll⟩, de Vaan explains, the word must come from ⟨*kalVwo-⟩ with a vowel between the consonants.^[2] Cognate with the Oscan personal name kalúvieis, “of Calvius”, and with Sanskrit कुल्व (kulvá, “bald”).^[2][1] The OLD compares a Persian word as well.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[4] who has a man with his head shaved, raso capite calvus, in the Amphitruo.^[3][5] De Vaan dates it from Pomponius.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is bald, whether by nature or from shaving.^[5] Lucilius jokes that all the young men of Myconos are bald, and Phaedrus uses it as a noun, “a bald man”.^[3] Cato applies it to smooth kinds of nuts, and to a vineyard bare of vines.^[3] Lewis & Short note that it is rare and does not occur in Lucretius, Cicero, Horace or Virgil;^[5] Petronius and Suetonius have it.^[5] Calvus was the cognomen of several Roman families, above all of the poet and orator Gaius Licinius Calvus.^[3] The cognomen Calvīnus formed from it lies behind the surname Calvin.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a man with a shaved head.^[3][5][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato, of smooth nuts and bare vineyards.^[3][4]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, of the bald youth of Myconos.^[3][4]
• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus, “a bald man”.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bald, hairless.^[3][5][1][7]
2. Having the head shaved.^[3][5]
3. Of nuts, smooth.^[3]
4. Of things, bare, stripped.^[3]

Noun

1. A bald person.^[3]

Related words

• calva
• calvitium
• calvāria
• recalvus
• English Calvin

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson