floresco

Forms

flōrēscō (present infinitive flōrēscere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is an inchoative verb, from Latin flōreō (“to bloom”), formed with -ēscō.^[2][3][4] De Vaan lists both verbs among the derivatives of flōs (“flower”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *flōs and Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-ōs (“blossoming”).^[5] He compares Old Irish bláth (“flower, bloom”), Old High German bluowen and Old English blōwan (“to bloom”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan first finds it in Varro,^[5] who writes of plants before they put out buds and begin to flower (flōrēscere incipiant).^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

It means to begin to blossom: Cicero tells of dried pennyroyal that flowers on the winter solstice itself, and the Praenestine calendar names Flora as the goddess who presides over things that flower.^[6][3][7] Lucretius uses it of bodies growing in vigour as others age.^[6][3] Figuratively it means to flourish in fame or fortune: Cicero speaks of Hortensius' rise and of a man now first coming into bloom, and Pliny the Younger is glad that his native place flourishes.^[6][2][3] Medieval writers used it of plants blooming and of things shining in beauty or growing strong.^[8] It lives on in Spanish florecer.^[1]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of plants beginning to flower.^[6][9]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of bodies growing in vigour.^[6][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a man rising in fame.^[6][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of plants) To begin to flower, come into blossom.^[6][2]
2. To grow in physical vigour, approach one's prime.^[6]
3. (figurative) To flourish, grow in fame or prosperity.^[6][2][3]

Word family

• inflōrēscō
• superflōrescō
• reflōrescō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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 g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de