litoreus

Forms

lītoreus (feminine lītorea, neuter lītoreum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lītus (“shore”) + -eus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds the origin of the noun uncertain; he thinks the best candidate is Proto-Indo-European *leit-os- (“going”), from a root meaning to go away, so that the shore would be the place where the land ends.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil,^[3][5] who writes of oaks growing on a river bank and of shore birds.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

It remained a poetic word for things of the shore: Ovid has the shore myrtle, the crab and the sand of the beach,^[5][6] and it is used by Manilius, Lucan and Statius.^[5] Silius, Statius and Martial apply it to coastal towns, Silius to Cupra.^[5][6] Ammianus uses it of a voyage along the coast.^[7]

British medieval writers used it of sea sand and rocks, and also as a noun: the neuter for the seashore and the feminine for a long narrow boat suited for use near the coast.^[8]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of river-bank oaks and shore birds.^[5][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of beach sand and crabs.^[6][3]
• 25–101 AD – Silius uses it of a coastal town.^[6][3]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of a coastal voyage.^[7][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the seashore or a shore; living or growing on the shore (birds, crabs, trees).^[2][6][7]
2. Situated on the coast, coastal.^[2][5]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, neuter) The seashore.^[8]
2. (Medieval Latin, feminine) A boat for use near the shore.^[8]

Related words

• lītus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press