candeo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkan.de.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkan.de.o]^[1]

Forms

candeō (present infinitive candēre, perfect active canduī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kand-ē- (“to shine”), a stative verb from a root Proto-Indo-European *(s)kend- (“to shine, glow”).^[2][1] If the root was *knd-, Latin a is unexpected; de Vaan explains it by a rule that inserts a to break up a cluster of four consonants, in formations such as *knd-ro- or *knd-no-.^[2]

Cognate with Welsh cann (“brilliant”), Sanskrit चन्द्र (candrá-, “shining”) and Albanian hënë (“moon”).^[2][1] The OLD and Georges also compare Ancient Greek κάνδαρος (kándaros, “charcoal”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested from Ennius onwards,^[2] who describes land and sea that “gleam with trembling light”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant to shine and especially to gleam white, as ivory or marble does, and less often to glisten in other colours.^[3][5] From the glow of hot metal it also meant to be or become hot, as of the air in Ovid's iron age.^[3][6] It was mostly poetic, and its present participle candens was used as an adjective “dazzling, white, glowing”.^[5][4]

Its derivatives were more productive than the verb itself: candidus, candor, candela, and the compounds accendo and incendo “to set on fire”.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of shining light.^[3][8]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus writes that ivory gleams on the thrones.^[3][8]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a scarlet cloth glistening on couches.^[3][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of air glowing with heat.^[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shine, be lit up.^[3][5]
2. To gleam white; of other colours, to glisten.^[3][6]
3. To be or become hot, to glow.^[3][6]

Word family

• accendō
• candefaciō
• candefio
• candēla
• candentia
• candēscō
• candicō
• candidus
• candificō
• candificus
• candor
• excandeo

Related words

• candēlābrārius
• candēlābrum
• English candid
• English candle
• English incense

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c 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. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de