exulcero

Forms

exulcerō (present infinitive exulcerāre, perfect active exulcerāvī, supine exulcerātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + ulcerō (“to make sore”), from ulcus (“sore, ulcer”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ulcus to Proto-Italic *elkos and Proto-Indo-European *h₁elḱ-os (“ulcer”), with cognates such as Ancient Greek ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound, ulcer”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro uses it first, in De re rustica, of insects that usually make a dog's ears sore.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means to make raw or sore, to cause to ulcerate: Celsus speaks of the skin and the bowels, Columella of the womb, and Pliny the Elder of the stomach and of scars;^[5] Celsus also says that any jolting causes ulcers.^[5] Pliny the Elder once uses it in the opposite sense, of vine leaves that clear the body of sores.^[2] Figuratively it is to wound the feelings: Cicero says he was made sore by the suspicions of certain men,^[2] and speaks of an embittered mind in which a false charge easily lodges;^[5] Livy has the anger of embittered minds.^[5] It is also to make worse, aggravate: Cicero says some speakers aggravate the weak points they cannot heal,^[2][5] and Pliny the Younger uses it of grief.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of sore ears.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of wounded feelings and aggravated weaknesses.^[2][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of sore skin.^[5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the stomach and of scars.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make raw or sore, inflame; to cause to ulcerate or suppurate.^[2][5][1]
2. (figurative) To wound the feelings of, embitter.^[2][5]
3. To make worse, aggravate.^[2][5][1]
4. To free from sores.^[2]

Word family

• exulcerātiō
• exulcerātōrius
• exulcerātrix

Related words

• ulcus
• ulcerō
• exacerbō

References

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