cancerosus

Forms

cancerōsus (feminine cancerōsa, neuter cancerōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2] Medieval texts also have cancrosus.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cancer (“crab; cancer”) + -ōsus.^[1][6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jerome (c. 383–420 AD) speaks of a pes cancerosus, a foot full of cancerous sores, in his sermons on the Psalms.^[1][6]

Semantic evolution

It was a word of medicine and veterinary medicine: Vegetius uses it of a wound in his book on the diseases of animals,^[1][2] and Cassius Felix in his medical work.^[7] Medieval surgical and medical writers used it of ulcers and diseased limbs,^[3][5] and figuratively of what is morally corrupt or pernicious.^[5][3] Italian canceroso continues the Late Latin word.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 383–420 AD – Jerome uses it of a diseased foot.^[1][6]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it of a wound.^[1][2][6]
• 447 AD – Cassius Felix uses it in his medical work.^[7][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of cancerous ulcers, cancerous.^{[1][7][2][3][4]}
2. (Medieval Latin, figurative) Morally corrupt; pernicious.^[5][3]

Related words

• cancer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.