luminosus

Forms

lūminōsus (feminine lūminōsa, neuter lūminōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lūmen (“light”) + -ōsus.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is the first to use it, in the Orator, of the two most brilliant and as it were most active parts of a speech.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it once each in Cicero and Vitruvius and then from Apuleius on, but, except in Augustine, much less often than lūcidus.^[3] Vitruvius requires all buildings to be well lit,^[4][5] Apuleius uses it of what shines,^[5] and Augustine forms the comparative and the superlative.^[6][4]

In British Medieval Latin it described a heavenly body that gives out light (corpus luminosum), and also persons, their perception and their speech.^[7] English borrowed it as luminous in the early 15th century,^[8] and it continues in Italian luminoso.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of brilliant parts of a speech.^[2][9]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of well-lit buildings.^[4][9]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of what shines.^[5][9]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine has the comparative and the superlative.^[6][4][9]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as luminous.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of light, well lit; gleaming, dazzling.^[2][6]
2. (rhetoric) Of a speech, brilliant, full of ornament.^[2]
3. (figurative) Conspicuous, prominent.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Giving out light: corpus lūminōsum, a heavenly body.^[7]

Related words

• lūmen
• English luminous

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de