fluidus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈfɫu.ɪ.dʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfluː.i.dus]^[1]

Forms

fluidus (feminine fluida, neuter fluidum, superlative fluidissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from fluō “to flow” with the suffix -idus.^[2][1][3][4] Lucretius and Seneca have ⟨fluvidus⟩.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Lucretius, of what flows freely.^[2] Köbler dates Lucretius 96–55 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant flowing freely, liquid, as Virgil's flowing blood, and in Seneca of robes flowing.^[2][7] Lewis and Short call it mostly poetic and post-Augustan, absent in Cicero and Caesar.^[2][5][7] In Ovid it meant dripping, with blood or other liquid, and of disease dissolving.^[2] It meant yielding to pressure, soft, of soil in Seneca, of flesh flabby in Livy, and weak, and in Seneca impermanent, unstable.^[2]

British Medieval Latin used it of sores running and of a person suffering from a flux.^[8] It was borrowed into Italian as fluido, and English fluid came in the early 15th century, “capable of flowing”.^[1][4]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the liquid.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of flabby flesh.^[2][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of dripping with blood.^[2][7][6]
• early 15th century – English fluid is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Flowing, fluid; of robes, flowing.^[2]
2. Dripping; dissolving.^[2]
3. Soft; flabby; weak.^[2]
4. Unstable, perishable.^[2]

Word family

• fluiditās

Related words

• fluō
• flūmen
• English fluid

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press