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candens

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word candens

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
204–169 BC, Ennius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *knd-ro-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin candeo
Latin candens
From the same root
English candid ← candeo
Latin candela ← candeo
Latin candesco ← candeo
Latin candor ← candeo

Forms

candēns (genitive candentis, comparative candentior); third-declension one-termination adjective[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin candeō (“to shine, be white, glow”).[1][2] De Vaan traces that verb to Proto-Italic *kand-ē- (“to shine”) and Proto-Indo-European *knd-ro- (“shining”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first quotation is from Ennius' tragedies, of the sun that raises its shining torch in the sky.[1]

Semantic evolution

It is shining, bright, clear, as Cicero's bright full moon, and resplendent, as Virgil's Phoebus;[1] Apuleius uses it of gold coins glittering with newness.[1] It is white or near white, as Varro's white-bodied bull, Lucretius' white milk and Virgil's white cows.[1] Especially of iron it is red-hot, glowing: Cicero tells of Dionysius, who feared the barber's razor and singed his hair with a glowing coal.[1] Of liquids it is boiling hot, as Columella's hot water, and of weather hot, as in Manilius.[1] Church Latin glosses it red-hot, glowing, burning.[4]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of the shining sun.[1][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a white bull.[1]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the full moon and of a glowing coal.[1]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of boiling water.[1][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Shining, bright; resplendent.[1][2]
  2. White, whitish.[1][2]
  3. Red-hot, glowing;[1][4] (of liquids) boiling hot.[1][4]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Candens.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/candens. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·