Etymologically
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colluvio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔlˈlʊ.wi.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kolˈluː.vi.o][1]

Forms

colluviō f (genitive colluviōnis); third declension[1] It is also spelled conluviō.[2][3] The fifth-declension colluvies has the same meaning.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin colluō (“to wash out, rinse”) + -iō,[2][1][4] and colluō is a compound of con- and lavō (“to wash”).[1] Its first meaning was what is washed together.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first,[5] for a jumble or vile medley: in the speech for Sestius he calls a man born out of the cesspool of every crime.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its classical uses were figurative: a mixed mass or welter, an impure mixture (Livy's colluvio gentium, a mingling of peoples), and a state of turmoil, as in Cicero's “turmoil of Drusus”.[2][3][6] Livy and Suetonius use it of the mixed rabble of exiles or of foreign and slave blood.[3]

The literal sense, collected filth, appears in late writers: Arnobius speaks of the dregs of bilge water and Cassian of impure fluids.[4] Jerome uses it of the filth of public prostitution, and Lactantius of contamination.[4][6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a welter of crimes and of political turmoil.[2][3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of a mixture of peoples.[2][3][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of foreign and servile blood.[3][5]
  • 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses the plural of bilge water.[4][5]
  • c. 360–c. 435 AD – Cassian uses it of impure fluids.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A heterogeneous mass, jumble, welter.[2][3]
  2. Contamination, an impure mixture.[2][3]
  3. A disordered state of affairs, turmoil.[2][6]
  4. (Late Latin) Collected filth, dregs.[4][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier