fixus

Forms

fīxus, fīxa, fīxum; first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect passive participle from Latin fīgō (“to fix, fasten”).^[1][2] De Vaan calls it a secondary participle of the verb.^[3] He traces fīgō to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeigʷ-e/o- or *dʰiHgʷ-e/o-, and notes that the old forms fīvere and offīvēbant keep the regular outcome of /gʷ/ between vowels, while /g/ came in from the perfect.^[3] He compares Lithuanian díegti (“to plant, sting”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Accius; de Vaan's first author for the participle with the sense “set, established” is Lucretius, who has the sky studded with twinkling stars.^[4][3][1]

Semantic evolution

Most often it describes what is firmly established and cannot be changed: Cicero speaks of the censors' notes as fixed and valid for ever, and of a fixed and permanent good.^[1] Of people it is unwavering in a resolve.^[1] Seneca uses it of what an omen foretells, Statius of a day fixed for war, and Tacitus of Tiberius' steady purpose.^[1] With an ablative it means set or fitted with: Manilius has hunting spears tipped with a strong point.^[1] Church Latin glosses it fixed, fast, immovable, constant.^[5]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it.^[4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a sky studded with stars.^[1][3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of decisions fixed for ever.^[1][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of Tiberius' steady purpose.^[1][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Fixed, fastened, set; in the senses of the verb.^[1][5]
2. Firmly established, unchangeable, irrevocable; of a person, unwavering.^[1][5]
3. Set or fitted with something.^[1]

Related words

• fīgō

Usage notes

A fourth-declension noun fīxus, "the act of fixing", appears in the Itinerarium Alexandri.^[6][4] The adverb is fīxē.^[5]

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften