Etymologically
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fumidus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfuː.mɪ.dʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfuː.mi.dus][1]

Forms

fūmidus (feminine fūmida, neuter fūmidum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fūmus (“smoke”) + -idus.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces fūmus to Proto-Italic *fūmo- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂-mó- (“smoke, fume”); the long vowel is not what that preform would regularly give, and Schrijver explains it by analogy with fūlīgō (“soot”) and suffiō (“to fumigate”).[4]

The noun is cognate with Sanskrit धूम (dhūmá-, “smoke, fume”), Ancient Greek θυμός (thūmós, “spirit”) and Lithuanian dū́mai (“smoke”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius has it first,[4][5] of a smoky torch, fax … fūmida, which Georges takes figuratively, of the torch of anger.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Virgil uses it of a pine torch that gives a pitchy light and of a boiling cauldron, fūmidus amnis, a steaming stream.[2][3] Ovid has smoking altars and smoky roofs, and Pliny the Elder applies it to light, mist and a whirlwind.[3]

Pliny also uses it of colour, for smoky stones such as some chrysolites and topazes, and of taste, for a resin with a smoky tang.[2][3] In medieval British sources it means smoky, full of smoke, or blackened with soot, and glossaries explain it by fūmōsa.[7]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of a smoky torch.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a torch and of a steaming stream.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has smoking altars.[3][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of smoke-coloured stones and a smoky taste.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Smoky, smoking; full of smoke.[2][3]
  2. Steaming.[2]
  3. Smoke-coloured.[2][3]
  4. Tasting or smelling of smoke.[2][3]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Blackened with soot.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b 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