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fucatus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word fucatus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek φῦκος
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fucus
Latin fuco
Latin fucatus

Forms

fūcātus (feminine fūcāta, neuter fūcātum, comparative fūcātior); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin fūcō (“to dye, paint”), its perfect participle used as an adjective.[1][3][4] The verb is formed from fūcus1 (“red dye; rouge”), which is borrowed from Ancient Greek φῦκος (phûkos, “seaweed, orchil”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it from Cicero,[4] who praises in the Brutus a style with a natural, not an artificial, lustre, naturalis … non fucatus nitor, and in the Orator speaks of the cosmetics of white and red.[1][6]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is produced by dyeing or painting, artificial in colour: Pliny the Elder says how dyed colour is detected with sulphur.[1] From this it came to mean not genuine, sham or counterfeit:[1][2] Cicero speaks of telling everything faked and feigned from what is sincere and true,[1][2] and Pliny the Elder of adulterated opium.[1] Of style it is artificial or showy: Gellius finds a line of Homer simpler and more sincere than Virgil's, which is more fucatus.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of artificial lustre and of what is sham.[1][4]
  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it of something faked.[1][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of dyed colour and adulterated opium.[1][4]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius calls a line of Virgil more artificial than Homer's.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Dyed, painted; artificial in colour.[1][2]
  2. Not genuine, sham, counterfeit.[1][2]
  3. Of style, artificial, showy.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
Cite this entry

“Fucatus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/fucatus. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·