ebriosus

Forms

ēbriōsus (feminine ēbriōsa, neuter ēbriōsum, comparative ēbriōsior); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēbrius (“drunk”) + -ōsus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ēbrius to Proto-Italic *ēχwrio- and derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₁egʷʰ- (“to drink”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Catullus and Cicero.^[5] Catullus plays on it, calling grapes juicy (ēbriōsa) and Postumia more drunken than the grape;^[6][7][8] in Cicero's De fato it has its usual sense, a man given to drink.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

Cicero also uses it as a noun for a drunkard, in the Academica.^[9][7] Seneca separates it from ēbrius: there is a great difference, he writes, between a man who is drunk and one who is a drunkard,^[9] and he wonders whether Anacreon lived more lustfully or more drunkenly.^[6] Pliny the Elder has the noun as well.^[9]

Medieval Latin kept both uses; episcopal capitularies and Hincmar of Reims require that a bishop be no drunkard,^[10] in Britain Bede uses it of a drunkard, and a letter of Boniface of 742 of bishops who are drunkards.^[11] It could also mean simply drunk, or, figuratively, intoxicating.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it, figuratively, of a juicy grape.^[6][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a man given to drink, and as a noun.^[9][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca distinguishes the drunkard from the man who is drunk.^[9][5]
• 742 – A letter of Boniface speaks of bishops who are drunkards.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Addicted to drink, given to drunkenness.^[2][9]
2. (figurative) Full of juice.^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Drunk; also figuratively, intoxicating.^[10][11]

Noun

1. A drunkard, sot.^[9][12]

Word family

• ēbriōsitās

Related words

• ēbrius
• ēbrietās

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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 c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b c d 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
12. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson