Etymologically
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luxurio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫuːkˈsʊ.ri.oː], [ɫʊkˈsʊ.ri.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [lukˈsuː.ri.o][1]

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]

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