Etymologically
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lacrimosus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word lacrimosus

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Lucilius
Ultimate origin
Latin (lacrima)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin lacrimosus
English lachrymose

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɫa.krɪˈmoː.sʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [la.kriˈmɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

lacrimōsus (feminine lacrimōsa, neuter lacrimōsum, adverb lacrimōsē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lacrima (“tear”) + -ōsus.[2][1] Older spellings are lacrumōsus and lacrymōsus.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Lucilius (c. 180–102 BC).[5] Lucilius has “tearful onion together with tear-raising stalks”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant accompanied by tears, tearful, as Virgil's rocks filled with weeping cries, and of eyes running with tears, as in Ovid and Pliny.[2][6] Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan in prose.[3]

It meant causing tears, of irritants such as onions and Horace's smoke, and lamentable.[2][6] Of vines it meant oozing sap, as in Pliny.[2][4] English lachrymose was borrowed in the 1660s, first meaning “tear-like”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of onions.[2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of smoke.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of weeping cries.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of vines that bleed sap.[2][5]
  • 1660s – English lachrymose is borrowed.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Tearful, weeping.[2][1]
  2. Causing tears; lamentable.[2][1]
  3. (of plants) Oozing sap.[2][4]
  • lacrima
  • lacrimābilis
  • lacrimābundus
  • lacrimātiō
  • lacrimō
  • lacrimōsē
  • lacrimula
  • English lachrymose

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Lacrimosus.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/lacrimosus. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·