exsertus

Forms

exsertus (feminine exserta, neuter exsertum; comparative exsertior); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2] It is also spelled exertus.^[1][3]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect participle from Latin exserō (“to thrust out, put forth”).^[1][4][5] The verb is formed from Latin ex- (“out”) + serō² (“to join, string together”),^[6] and its simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *sere/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ser-e/o- (“to thread, tie together”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder uses it of protruding tusks, in the sense “jutting out, projecting”.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is physical: something that juts forward or sticks out,^[1][4] and Quintilian uses the comparative exsertiores of hands stretched out farther, as opposed to short ones.^[4] Statius uses it of the island Megalia, jutting out into the waves.^[1]

Of the eyes it meant wide open, and transferred, watchful: Apuleius writes that one must keep watch with eyes open and unblinking.^[1][5] The same author has an exsertus cachinnus, a loud, obtrusive laugh.^[1] Statius also uses it for something open and undisguised, an open war.^[4][2] A comparative exsertior appears in the panegyric of Pacatus.^[2]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of projecting tusks.^[4][8]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses the comparative of outstretched hands.^[4][8]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of a jutting island and of an open war.^[1][4][8]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of wide-open, watchful eyes and of a loud laugh.^[1][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Jutting forward, protruding, projecting.^[1][4]
2. (of eyes) Wide open;^[1][5] (transferred) watchful.^[1][5]
3. (of sound) Loud, obtrusive.^[1]
4. Open, undisguised.^[4][2]

Usage notes

The OLD notes that the word is used mostly in the senses of the verb exserō, of which it is the participle.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de