ferrugo

Forms

ferrūgō f (genitive ferrūginis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ferrum (“iron”) + -ūgō, formed like aerūgō (“verdigris”) from aes (“copper, bronze”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan regards the word for iron itself as a loan from an unidentified source, possibly a Phoenician dialect.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Catullus,^[5] who uses it for a dark Spanish dye (ferrūgine Hibērā).^[2] The adjective ferrūgineus is already in Plautus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In its earliest uses it is a colour term, for shades that range, according to the OLD, from a reddish purple to nearly black;^[2][6] Georges renders it as iron-grey, dark brown or steel-blue.^[2][6] The literal sense, iron rust, is found in Pliny the Elder, who also uses it for a rust-like skin.^[2][3] Ovid uses it figuratively for the canker of envy, and the Laus Pisōnis for envy itself.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it for a dark Spanish dye.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it as a colour term.^[6][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the rusty hand of Envy.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for iron rust.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Iron rust.^[2][3]
2. A rust-like coating or skin.^[2]
3. A dark colour, from reddish purple to nearly black; dusky hue.^[2][6]
4. (figurative) Moral canker; envy.^[2][6]

Word family

• ferruginans
• ferrūgineus

Usage notes

Servius explains the word in Virgil as properly the “scab” of iron, a purple darker than the Spanish.^[4] L&S gives aerūgō and rōbīgō as synonyms for rust.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de