macero

Pronunciation

• Classical: [ˈmaː.kɛ.roː]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [ˈmaː.t͡ʃe.ro]^[1]

Forms

mācerō (present infinitive mācerāre, perfect active mācerāvī, supine mācerātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

De Vaan derives it from an adjective Proto-Italic *mākero- (“soaked, kneaded”), also behind māceria (“wall”), "wall of kneaded clay".^[2] The meaning would suit Proto-Indo-European *meh₂ǵ- (“to knead”), as in Ancient Greek μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”), but the Latin /k/ does not match, so he marks it with a question mark.^[2] The OLD compares instead Old Church Slavonic мокръ (mokrŭ, “wet”) and Lithuanian makonė (“puddle”).^[3][1] The TLL derives it from an adjective *macer, as lacerō is from lacer.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus, who says that nothing wears a man down more than the savage sea.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is to soak or steep: Plautus jokes about the stage gold with which oxen are fattened in foreign lands, Vitruvius has a river where gouty people soak their legs, and Varro has sorb apples steeped in the sun.^[3] Vitruvius also uses it of slaking lime, and Columella of moss softening vines.^[3] From wearing down the body it came to mean tormenting the mind: in Plautus a woman says a fear is tormenting her, and a man that he is stewing and fretting himself.^[3] Church Latin glosses it mortify, afflict, and Wiktionary gives the medieval senses to mortify the flesh and to torture.^[5][1]

Timeline

• c. 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus of being worn down by the sea.^[3][2][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of soaking and of fretting.^[3][6]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of soaking legs and slaking lime.^[3][6]
• late 15th century – English macerate comes from its participle or from maceration.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To soak, steep, macerate; to slake lime.^[3][8][1]
2. To soften by exposure.^[3][1]
3. To weaken, exhaust, wear down.^[3][1]
4. To torment, worry, vex; in the passive or with a reflexive, to fret.^[3][1]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To mortify, afflict;^[5][1] (Medieval Latin) to torture.^[5][1]

Word family

• commācerō
• ēmacerō
• mācerātiō
• mācerēscō
• permācerō
• praemācerō
• māceria

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press