Etymologically
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exardesco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛk.saːrˈdeːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eɡ.zarˈdɛs.ko][1]

Forms

exārdēscō (present infinitive exārdēscere, perfect active exārsī, supine exārsum); third conjugation, no passive[1] The Itala has exardisc-.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + ārdēscō (“to catch fire”), the inchoative of ārdeō (“to burn”).[3][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,[5] who says no material catches fire so easily.[3]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is “to catch fire, flare up”, and of colour or light to blaze up, as Seneca's mullet glowing redder than vermilion;[3] Cicero also has regions of the earth grown burning hot under the sun.[3] It is very frequent in Cicero in the figurative sense of flaring up in anger: Philippus did not bear the torches of words put to him and blazed up.[3][4] Passions blaze up, wars break out (Cicero's war that suddenly flared up), and in Suetonius prices shoot up beyond measure;[3] Catullus' Ariadne burns with love to the marrow.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “be inflamed, take fire, be kindled”.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of flaring up in anger and of war.[3][5]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of burning love.[3][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of soaring prices.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To catch fire, flare up; of light, to blaze up; to become burning hot.[3][4][1][6]
  2. To blaze up with anger; to burn with love.[3][1]
  3. Of passions, to burst out; of war, to break out; of prices, to soar.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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