enodis

Forms

ēnōdis (neuter ēnōde); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

The OLD and the TLL take it as a back-formation from ēnōdō (“to free from knots”).^[2][3] Wiktionary analyses it as from Latin ex- + nōdus (“knot”) + -is.^[1] The origin of nōdus itself is uncertain according to de Vaan, who sets up Proto-Indo-European *nōdo- (“knot”) or similar forms but also allows a loanword.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil's Georgics, of tree trunks free of knots.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short describe it as poetic and post-Augustan.^[5] It was used of trees, wood and reeds that are smooth and free of knots,^[2][5] and by transfer of verse: Pliny the Younger praises elegies that are flowing, tender and smooth.^[2] Claudian uses it of supple limbs.^[5]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of knotless trunks.^[5][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder speaks of the smoothness of trees.^[5][6]
• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella uses it of a reed.^[5][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Free from knots, smooth (of trees, wood).^[2][5]
2. (figurative) Smooth, flowing (of verse).^[2]
3. Supple (of limbs).^[5]

References

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