haustus

Forms

haustus m (genitive haustūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin hauriō (“to draw, drain”) + -tus, an action noun.^[2][1] De Vaan traces hauriō to Proto-Italic *aus-je- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eus-ie/o- (“to scoop”), comparing Old Norse ausa (“to scoop”) and Ancient Greek αὔω (aúō, “to get a light”), whose sense he takes as narrowed from scooping to fire; the initial ⟨h⟩ may be hypercorrect.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius,^[3] in whom dogs at play imitate tender bites with their teeth held back.^[2] Köbler dates it from Cicero, who names the right of drawing water beside the right of an aqueduct and a right of way.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is the drawing of water and the quantity drawn, and in law the right to draw it.^[2][5] Columella speaks of water that is not drawn from a depth, and Juvenal of a well easily drawn.^[5] Ovid uses it of drawing blood and of scooping up sand.^[2] It is the act of drinking, as of milk in Pliny the Elder, and a draught, as Ovid's draughts of wine.^[2] It is also the gulping of food, the drawing in of air, and absorption: Virgil says the bees have a share of the divine mind and draughts of the upper air, and Pliny the Elder has the moon absorbing light.^[2] Church Latin glosses it drink, draught, drawing of water.^[6]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of dogs' play-bites.^[2][3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the right of drawing water.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of draughts of air.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of draughts of wine and of blood.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The drawing of water; a quantity drawn;^[2][5][1][6] (law) the right of drawing water.^[2][5][1][6]
2. The drawing of blood; the scooping out of sand or earth.^[2]
3. The act of drinking; a drink, draught.^[2][1][6]
4. The gulping of food; the drawing in of air; absorption.^[2]

Related words

• hauriō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson