Etymologically
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fixus

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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]

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