cero

Forms

cērō (present infinitive cērāre, perfect active cērāvī, supine cērātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cēra (“wax”) + -ō.^[2][3][1]

The noun is probably a loanword from an unknown language, or borrowed directly from Ancient Greek κηρός (kērós, “wax”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The participle cērātus is found from Plautus on,^[4] who speaks of a cērāta tabula, a wax-coated writing tablet;^[5][3] the finite verb is later and much rarer,^[3] first in Columella, of coating jars with wax.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Most uses are of the participle: Cicero has a waxed tablet given to each person, Horace and Ovid the waxed wings of Daedalus, Ovid waxed torches and waxed ships.^[3][5] Ulpian, in the Digest, speaks of waxed codicils beside codices of parchment and papyrus.^[3]

The neuter cērātum became a noun for a wax salve or plaster, used from Celsus on.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the participle of a waxed writing tablet.^[5][3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the participle of writing tablets.^[3][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses the participle of the wings of Daedalus.^[3][5][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses the neuter participle as a noun for a wax salve.^[3][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses the finite verb of coating jars with wax.^[2][3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To smear or coat with wax.^[2][5]

Word family

• cērātūra
• incērō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de