Etymologically
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cretatus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kreːˈtaː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kreˈtaː.tus][1]

Forms

crētātus (feminine crētāta, neuter crētātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin crēta (“chalk, white clay”) + -ātus.[2][1][3] The origin of crēta is uncertain: de Vaan prefers a connection with Celtic words for “mud, clay” to the old explanation as “sifted” earth from cernō.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucilius, of a whitened ox led to the Capitol for sacrifice.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of bands whitened with chalk, in a letter to Atticus,[3][6] Pliny the Elder of feet marked with chalk,[6] and Juvenal, echoing Lucilius, of a whitened bull led to the Capitol.[3][6] Of a woman it means powdered, in Martial.[2][6]

Persius applies it to Ambition, meaning the candidates for office in their whitened togas.[2][6]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a whitened sacrificial ox.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of chalk-whitened bands.[3][6]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of candidates dressed in white.[2][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of feet marked with chalk.[6]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a powdered woman.[2][6]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of a whitened bull for sacrifice.[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Whitened with chalk or pipeclay; marked with chalk.[2][6]
  2. (of a woman) Powdered.[2][6]
  3. (of candidates for office) Dressed in whitened garments.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press