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crassus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word crassus

History Permalink
Confidence
Unknown
First attested
Plautus

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkras.sʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkras.sus][1]

Forms

crassus (feminine crassa, neuter crassum, comparative crassior, superlative crassissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.[2][3][4] Walde and Hofmann and Pokorny derived it from a root *kert- “to twist”, through “tied together, clenched, thick”, which de Vaan calls gratuitous, and he rejects the comparison with crātis “wickerwork”.[2][1] He notes that it belongs to a group of disparaging adjectives for body shapes, such as flaccus, grossus and gibber, which have a double consonant, so the older form may have been *crāsus, though this does not explain it.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose slave is to get heavy, thick fetters.[2][3] Köbler's first source is Ennius, 204–169 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant thick in section, then of people and animals stout, fat, as Plautus' fat old woman, and in measurements of a given thickness, as in Cato.[3] Of liquids it meant thick, dense, of rivers muddy, of darkness deep, as Cicero's thick shadows.[3] It also meant coarse, rough, heavy, and of people and their minds dull, stupid, crass.[3] It was the cognomen of a branch of the gēns Licinia, as Crassus the orator and Crassus the triumvir.[6]

In Medieval Latin it meant fat, and of deer in grease.[7] It survives, perhaps influenced by grossus, in French gras, Italian grasso and Spanish graso.[1][7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of thick fetters.[3][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato gives the thickness of a wall.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of thick shadows.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Thick.[3]
  2. (Of people and animals) stout, fat.[3]
  3. (Of liquids) thick, dense, (of rivers) muddy, (of darkness) deep.[3]
  4. Coarse, rough, heavy.[3]
  5. Dull, stupid, crass.[3]

Word family

  • crassedo
  • crassificō
  • crassitās
  • crassitiēs
  • crassitūdō
  • crassiuēnius
  • crassō
  • percrassus
  • praecrassus
  • crassē
  • crassēscō
  • crassundia
  • crassāmen
  • crassāmentum
  • crassificātiō
  • grossus
  • English crass

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
Cite this entry

“Crassus.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/crassus. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·