crinitus

Forms

crīnītus (feminine crīnīta, neuter crīnītum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin crīnis (“hair”) + -ītus.^[2][1][3] In form it can also be read as the participle of a rare verb crīniō, under which Lewis and Short and Conte list it.^[1][4][5] De Vaan reconstructs crīnis as Proto-Italic *krisni-, Proto-Indo-European *kris-ni-.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius has it first,^[3][6] in a tragedy, of long-haired Apollo, crinitus Apollo.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Virgil repeats crinitus Apollo,^[7] and Ovid uses it of a girl.^[8] By likeness it described things resembling a head of hair: Virgil's helmet with a triple crest, shells in Pliny the Elder, and the stella crinita or sidus crinitum, the comet, in Cicero, Seneca and Suetonius.^[2][8][5] Ovid uses it with an ablative of a head “haired” with snakes.^[2] Prudentius speaks of fields “haired” with grain.^[5]

It survives in Italian crinito and Old French crenu.^[7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius calls Apollo long-haired.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses stella crinita for a comet.^[8][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a crested helmet.^[8][5][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a head with snakes for hair.^[2][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca writes of long-haired comets.^[2][6]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of fields of grain.^[5][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having long hair, long-haired.^[2][8]
2. Resembling a head of hair; of a helmet, crested.^[2][8]
3. stella crinita, sidus crinitum: a comet.^[2][8]
4. Provided with something by way of hair (with an ablative).^[2]

Related words

• crīnio
• crinis

Usage notes

As a cognomen it was borne by Trajan, whom Eutropius calls Ulpius Crinitus Traianus.^[7]

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 j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn