expressus

Forms

expressus (feminine expressa, neuter expressum); comparative expressior; first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is the participle from Latin exprimō (“to squeeze out, press out; to portray”), used as an adjective.^[1][2] exprimō is a compound of ex- and premō (“to press”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *pres- and Proto-Indo-European *pr-es- (“to press”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler lists the participle from Plautus and the adjective from Cicero.^[4] Cicero uses it in the De natura deorum of a form of the gods with nothing solid or distinct about it.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is clearly shaped, distinct, standing out, the opposite of adumbrātus “sketched”: Cicero contrasts real glory, solid and distinct, with its shadow, and says Catiline had only the outlines of virtues.^[2] Quintilian uses it of muscular bodies of a child fully formed, and of clear pronunciation;^[2] Cicero praises a voice whose letters were neither overemphasised nor swallowed.^[2] Catullus calls his poems from Battiades expressa carmina, translated poems.^[2] With ad it is closely modelled on something, as Pliny the Younger's man shaped on the pattern of antiquity.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of distinct forms and solid glory.^[2][4]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus, of poems translated.^[2][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of muscular bodies and distinct speech.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Clearly defined, distinct, standing out; clear-cut in shape.^[1][2]
2. Clear, plain, manifest.^[2]
3. Of speech, distinctly pronounced; too emphatic.^[2]
4. Of a text, rendered, translated.^[2]
5. With ad, closely modelled on.^[1]

Related words

• exprimō
• premō
• expressiō
• adumbrātus

Usage notes

A separate fourth-declension noun expressus, -ūs occurs once, in Vitruvius, for a device that forces water upward.^[1][2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften