exsicco

Forms

exsiccō (present infinitive exsiccāre, perfect active exsiccāvī, supine exsiccātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelled ⟨exiccō⟩.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“out, thoroughly”) + siccō (“to dry”).^[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of siccus (“dry”), whose origin he calls uncertain: he weighs Proto-Indo-European *si-sk-u- (“dry”), beside a root *sek- (“to dry up”), against the older connection with *seikʷ- (“to pour”) that Pokorny made.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius,^[5] whose Annales use it in a figurative phrase of the Roman youth drying itself out of sleep.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is to make dry or dry up: Cicero has trees dried out in winter, Lucretius the sun drying wet clothes, and Ovid rivers dried up.^[2][6] Seneca uses it of drying a mother's eyes, and Cicero, figuratively, of a dry, spare style of speaking.^[2][7]

It also meant to drain a vessel or to drain off a liquid.^[2][3] Cato's farm manual tells the reader to drain off the water on the tenth day,^[2] Quintus Cicero writes of flagons emptied on the sly, and Horace of a merchant draining wine from golden cups.^[2][8] Seneca uses it of drunkenness passing off until it ends in sleep.^[2][3] The Vulgate has spiritus tristis exsiccat ossa, “a gloomy spirit dries up the bones”.^[3] Ecclesiastical Latin kept the sense to dry up.^[9] English exsiccate comes from its past participle.^[10]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it in a figurative phrase in the Annales.^[2][11]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of draining off water.^[2][11]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the sun drying clothes.^[2][11]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of draining wine from cups.^[2][11]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a gloomy spirit drying up the bones.^[3][11]
• 1540s – English borrows exsiccate.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make dry, dry up.^[2][3][6]
2. To drain or empty (a vessel).^[2][8]
3. To draw off (a liquid); (of drunkenness) to pass off.^[2][3]

Word family

• exsiccātiō
• exsiccātus

Related words

• siccus
• English exsiccate

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 m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de