Etymologically
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excresco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈskreːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈskrɛs.ko][1]

Forms

excrēscō (present infinitive excrēscere, perfect active excrēvī, supine excrētum); third conjugation, no passive[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + crēscō (“to grow”).[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it from Cato on among the compounds of the simple verb, which he traces to Proto-Italic *krē- (“to grow, increase”) and Proto-Indo-European *k(w)reh₁- (“to become bigger, stronger”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it from Cato on,[4] and Conte cites one of Cato's speeches for the sense to spring up.[5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that Varro, Cicero and Livy do not use it, and that Gregory the Great is fond of it.[3] It means to grow out from a point: Celsus says a bone grows out from the top of a rib.[2] It also means to grow up or grow larger, of palms in Columella and of trees and lettuces in Pliny the Elder,[2][6] and Tacitus says that German children grow into the large bodies that the Romans admire.[6] Virgil uses the participle excrētus of kids that have grown up.[5]

In medicine it is used of morbid growths: Celsus of a scar that has grown out, Suetonius of flesh that had grown on Galba's side,[2][6] and Pliny the Elder calls such growths excrēscentia.[6] Figuratively it means to increase or grow excessive, as of a swelling river in Seneca, of an over-long introduction in Quintilian, and of the lists of lawsuits in Suetonius.[2][6][5]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of something springing up.[5][4][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the participle of grown kids.[5][7]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of bones and of morbid growths.[2][7]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of palms that have grown enough.[2][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian warns against an introduction that grows too long.[6][7]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of flesh growing on Galba's side.[6][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To grow out from a point;[2][5] (figurative) to spring from.[2][5]
  2. To grow up, grow larger; of a river, to swell.[2][6]
  3. (medicine) Of a morbid growth: to grow out, form an excrescence.[2][6]
  4. To increase, grow excessive.[2][6]

Word family

  • excrescentia

Usage notes

Its perfect excrēvī and supine excrētum are the same as those of excernō “to sift, separate”, and Conte warns against confusing the two verbs' forms.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de