Etymologically
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grandio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɡran.di.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɡran.di.o][1]

Forms

grandiō (present infinitive grandīre); fourth conjugation, no perfect or supine stems[1] Plautus has an old future grandibō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin grandis (“large”) + -iō.[2][4][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of grandis, whose own origin he finds unclear.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is Plautus, testūdineum istum tibi ego grandibō gradum, “I will lengthen that tortoise step of yours”.[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is an old word, used before the classical period.[6] Transitively it is to make larger: Varro, quoted by Nonius, speaks of soil that cannot make the sprouted seed grow, and Nonius explains it as “to make large”.[4][6] In the middle passive and intransitively it is to grow: Pacuvius writes that the young crops could neither grow nor ripen,[4][7] and Cato's prayer to Mars asks him to let frūgēs frūmenta vīnēta virgultaque grandīre, “the crops, grain, vineyards and shrubs grow”.[4][6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a slow step.[4][2][8]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it intransitively of crops in a prayer.[4][8]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses the passive of crops growing.[4][8]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of soil making seeds grow.[4][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make large, to increase, to enlarge.[2][6][4]
  2. (passive and intransitive) To become large, to grow.[2][6][4]
  • grandēscō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de