consenesco

Forms

cōnsenēscō (present infinitive cōnsenēscere, perfect active cōnsenuī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + senēscō (“to grow old”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives senēscō from senex (“old man”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *seno- (“old”) and Proto-Indo-European *sen- (“old”), comparing Old Irish sen (“old”), Sanskrit सन (sána-, “old”) and Lithuanian sẽnas (“old”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Plautus on:^[3] in the Captivi a father says he wastes away, grows old and pines.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to reach old age and to grow old together: Ovid has Baucis and Philemon growing old in their hut.^[6][2] It is also to spend one's whole life in an occupation or state: Horace has Marsians and Apulians who have grown old in arms under a Median king, and Livy the hope of growing old in a safe exile.^[2] From the start it also means to grow feeble or waste away, and of things to decay with age.^[2] Last it is to lose force or fall into disuse: Varro has a civic virtue that begins to sicken and weaken.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of wasting away.^[2][3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of a virtue losing force.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of soldiers grown old in arms.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of Baucis and Philemon.^[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To grow old, reach old age; to grow old together.^[2][6][1]
2. To spend one's life, grow old (in an occupation or condition).^[2][1]
3. To grow feeble, waste away; of things, to decay with age.^[2][1]
4. To lose force, fall into disuse; of people, to become of no account.^[2][1]

Related words

• senēscō
• senex

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press