languesco

Forms

languēscō (present infinitive languēscere, perfect active langüī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1] Lucan scans the perfect languit as three syllables.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin langueō (“to be weak, faint”) + -scō, an inchoative.^[2][1] De Vaan derives langueō from an adjective “faint, weak”, from Proto-Italic *(s)lā̆ng-u-, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *sl̥-n-ǵ-u-, a nasalised form of the root of laxus (“loose”).^[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek λαγαρός (lagarós, “slack, thin”) and Old English slæc (“weak, slack”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius;^[3] Catullus has “not before death makes my eyes grow faint”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to grow weak or feeble, and to fall sick, as Suetonius' Nero, ill only three times in fourteen years.^[2] Of mental powers it is to fail, as Cicero's fear that the orator grows weak with age.^[2] Of plants it is to droop or wilt, as Virgil's flower cut by the plough, and of moving things to lose force, as Ovid's wave dying down after a strong wind;^[2] Curtius uses it of water cooling.^[2] Of people it is to lose resolve or calm down, and of efforts and passions to flag, both in Cicero.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “become weak, faint, languid”.^[4]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius.^[3][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of eyes growing faint in death.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of an orator weakening with age.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a wilting flower.^[2][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of Nero falling ill.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To grow weak, faint, languid; to fall sick; of the mind, to fail.^[2][6][4][1]
2. Of plants, to wilt, droop; to lose force or intensity.^[2][1]
3. To lose keenness, calm down; of efforts, to flag.^[2]

Word family

• ēlanguēscō
• oblanguēscō
• relanguēscō

Related words

• languefaciō
• languēns
• langueō
• languidē
• languidulus
• languidus
• languificus
• languor

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 m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press