Etymologically
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lacrimosus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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