fluens

Forms

fluēns (genitive fluentis); third-declension adjective of one termination^[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin fluō (“to flow”).^[1][3] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *flow-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰleuH- (“to flow (over)”), with cognates such as Ancient Greek φλύω (phlúō, “to seethe, boil over”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[5] who in the Orator praises a drawn-out and flowing style, tracta quaedam et fluens oratio, rather than a twisted and sharp one.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Besides smooth, flowing speech and verse,^[1][6] it is used of running water as against standing water, of diseases accompanied by a flux, and of an abundant, overflowing quantity.^[1] Quintilian uses it of people without firm moral principles who bring such vices into the schools,^[1] and it could also mean slack, effeminate or flabby, as in buccae fluentes, flabby cheeks.^[3][2] In medieval Latin fluens, usually in the plural, was a noun for a river, stream or flood, beside fluentum;^[7] Leumann explains fluentum as a singular made from the neuter plural fluenta of this participle.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a flowing style.^[1][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of running springs.^[1][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of diseases accompanied by a flux.^[1][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of people without firm moral principles.^[1][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Flowing freely, running (of water).^[1]
2. (of diseases) Accompanied by a flux.^[1]
3. Abundant, overflowing.^[1]
4. (of speech or style) Smooth, flowing.^[1][6]
5. Slack, without firm moral principles; flabby.^[1][3]
6. (Medieval Latin, as a noun, usually plural) A river, stream, flood.^[7]

Related words

• fluentum
• Italian fluente

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill