luxurio

Forms

lū̆xuriō (present infinitive lū̆xuriāre, perfect active lū̆xuriāvī, supine lū̆xuriātum); first conjugation^[1] There is also a deponent luxurior.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin luxuria (“luxuriance, excess”) + -ō.^[2][4][1] De Vaan thinks luxuria is based on an adjective ⟨*luxuros⟩ and belongs with luxus (“excess”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *lukso- and Proto-Indo-European *lug-so- (“bent”): from "bent" came both "sprained" and "lack of restraint".^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are Virgil's Georgics, of a horse's spirited chest swelling with muscles, and the Aeneid, of a horse frisking with neck held high.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to grow rank or luxuriant: Ovid has a field that grew rank with constant water, and Columella speaks of keeping the tips of shoots from running wild.^[2][3] Of the body it means to fill out or swell,^[2] and of animals to frisk or gambol.^[2] Figuratively it is to revel immoderately in success: Livy says that a once vigorous mind can grow wanton with too much glory and fade away.^[2] It also means to live in luxury, as in Pliny the Elder's remark on a state already growing luxurious.^[2] Lewis & Short note that it is absent from Cicero and Caesar, and Quintilian mentions the deponent luxurior.^[3] Late manuscripts often spell it luxor-.^[4]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil of horses swelling and frisking.^[2]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a mind grown wanton with glory.^[2]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a field growing rank.^[2]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a state grown luxurious.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of plants) To grow rank, be luxuriant;^[2][3][1] (of the body) to fill out, swell.^[2][3][1]
2. (of animals) To frisk, gambol.^[2][1]
3. To revel immoderately, run riot; to live in luxury, indulge oneself.^[2][1]

Related words

• lū̆xuria
• lū̆xuriōsus
• lū̆xus
• English luxuriate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill