consuetus

Forms

cōnsuētus (feminine cōnsuēta, neuter cōnsuētum, superlative cōnsuētissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is the perfect passive participle from Latin cōnsuēscō (“to become accustomed”), used as an adjective.^[1][3][4] De Vaan lists ⟨cōnsuēscere⟩ among the compounds of suēscō (“to become accustomed”), an inchoative from Proto-Italic *swē(þ)-sk-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *sue(h1-)dhh1- (“to make one's own, get accustomed”); he notes that the compounds are older than the simple verb, which is a back-formation.^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἦθος (êthos, “custom, usage”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus' Vidularia, in talis iactandis tuae sunt consuetae manus, “your hands are used to throwing dice”.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

It means accustomed or used to something, as of animals used to one another in Varro,^[1][4] and, of things, customary, habitual or usual:^[1][2] Terence's Andria has a familiar love that was easy to see, Sallust a usual lust and familiar dangers, and Virgil consueta antra, the usual caves.^[1][2][4] Ovid uses it of ordinary words, and the superlative consuetissima verba, “the most familiar words”.^[1][2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means accustomed, usual or customary,^[7] as in the Vulgate's usual number of bricks.^[2] It continues in Italian consueto.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of hands used to dice.^[6][8]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a familiar love.^[1][8]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of usual dangers.^[2][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of ordinary words.^[1][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a usual number.^[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Accustomed, used (to something).^[1][4]
2. Customary, habitual, usual; commonly used, ordinary.^[1][2][7]

Related words

• cōnsuēfaciō
• cōnsuēscō
• cōnsuētūdō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de