Etymologically
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cariosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ka.riˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ka.riˈɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

cariōsus (feminine cariōsa, neuter cariōsum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cariēs (“decay, rot”) + -ōsus.[2][1][3] De Vaan thinks cariēs more likely belongs to careō (“to lack”), as a “state of defectiveness”, than to the root of Sanskrit शृणाति (śr̥ṇā́ti, “breaks”) and Ancient Greek κεραΐζω (keraḯzō, “to ravage”), Proto-Indo-European *ḱrh2- (“to break”), which earlier dictionaries proposed.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato is the first to use it,[4][3] in his book on farming, of crumbly, badly conditioned soil that should not be ploughed or driven over.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Cato's terra cariosa puzzled later writers: Pliny the Elder explains it as dry, porous, rough and worn, while Columella says the farmers' term meant land wet on the surface and dry beneath.[5][3] Otherwise it described rotten wood, as in Lucilius' little table with decayed feet,[2][6] decayed teeth and bone in Phaedrus and Celsus,[2][5] and things gone crumbly with age, such as dates in Varro and old wine in Martial.[2][5]

Figuratively it meant withered by old age: Ovid speaks of decrepit old age,[5][6] Prudentius of worm-eaten statues of the gods, and Ambrose of priests rotten with faithlessness.[5][7] English took it over in the 1670s, through French, as carious, “decayed” of teeth and bone.[8]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of crumbly soil.[2][3][9]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a table with decayed feet.[2][6][9]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro says dates grow more crumbly with age.[2][9]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid speaks of decrepit old age.[5][6][9]
  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it of decayed teeth.[2][9]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of aged wine.[2][9]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose calls priests rotten with faithlessness.[5][7][9]
  • 1670s – English borrows it, through French, as carious.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Decayed, rotten (of wood).[2][5]
  2. Carious, affected by decay (of teeth, bone or flesh).[2][5]
  3. Of soil: crumbly and porous, in poor condition for working.[2][5]
  4. Crumbly or friable from age.[2]
  5. Of wine: gone flat or mellow with age.[5][7]
  6. (figurative) Withered with age, decrepit.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b 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 e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de