coccinus

Forms

coccinus (feminine coccina, neuter coccinum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κόκκινος (kókkinos, “scarlet”),^[2][1][3] from κόκκος (kókkos).^[1] The TLL compares the Latin noun coccum.^[4] It survives in Romansh as cotschen.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Petronius has it of a scarlet woollen cloth in which a character is wrapped.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant dyed scarlet, as of cloths and leather,^[2][4] and as a neuter plural noun it meant scarlet clothes or coverlets, as in Martial.^[2][5] Pliny the Elder uses it more widely for scarlet colour, of berries.^[2]

In Christian Latin the neuter coccinum named scarlet thread, cloth or garments, in Tertullian and the Vulgate.^[5]

Timeline

• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of scarlet cloth.^[4][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of scarlet berries.^[2][3]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses the neuter plural for scarlet garments.^[5][3]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses coccinum for scarlet cloth.^[5][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses coccinum for scarlet.^[5][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dyed scarlet.^[2][5]
2. Of scarlet colour.^[2]

Noun

1. (neuter plural) Scarlet clothes or coverlets.^[2][5]
2. (Late Latin, neuter) Scarlet thread, cloth or garment.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn