dissolutus

Forms

dissolūtus (feminine dissolūta, neuter dissolūtum, superlative dissolūtissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect passive participle from Latin dissolvō (“to loosen, dissolve”).^[2][1][3] dissolvō is a compound of solvō (“to loosen”), which de Vaan explains as *se- "away" and luō (“to loosen”); he traces luō to Proto-Indo-European *l(é)uH- (“to cut loose”), comparing Ancient Greek λύω (lúō, “to loosen, liberate”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means loose, not firmly fixed: Vitruvius says that reticulate masonry has its beds and joints loose in every direction.^[2] Of speech it is loosely put together or disjointed: Cicero wants a style neither disjointed nor wholly rhythmical.^[2] Most often it is morally lax, easy-going, weak or dissolute, as Cicero's generous, easy-going man overflowing with kindness, and of behaviour careless, as the dissolute negligence in the Rhetorica ad Herennium.^[2] Church Latin glosses it feeble, loose.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of disjointed style and of an easy-going man.^[2][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of loose masonry joints.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Loose, not firmly fixed.^[2][6][1]
2. Of words, loosely put together, disjointed.^[2]
3. Lax, negligent, easy-going, weak; dissolute.^[2][1]

Related words

• dissolvō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson