Etymologically
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crinitus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kriːˈniː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kriˈniː.tus][1]

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]

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