macilentus

Forms

macilentus (feminine macilenta, neuter macilentum, comparative macilentior); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin maciēs (“leanness”) + -lentus,^[2][1] on the model of gracilentus (“slender”).^[2] Maciēs is derived from the adjective macer (“thin”),^[3] which goes back to Proto-Italic *makro- (“long, lean”) and Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱ-ro- (“long”).^[3] Cognates of macer include Ancient Greek μακρός (makrós, “long”), Old High German magar and Old Norse magr (“meagre”), and Hittite maklant- (“thin, meagre”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on:^[3] in the Asinaria a character has macilentis malis, “lean cheeks”, and in the Captivi a man is described with a thin face and a sharp nose.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it “ante- and post-class.”,^[4] and the OLD's next citation after Plautus is from Apuleius,^[2] and Paulus' epitome of Festus glosses macilenti as people made thin by leanness.^[2][4] Palladius applied it to poor, barren soil, and the comparative macilentior is used of faces in the Vulgate and of a horse in Pelagonius.^[4] Ecclesiastical Latin kept the sense “thin, lean”.^[5] It was later borrowed into Italian, Spanish and Portuguese as Italian macilento.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of lean cheeks and a thin face.^[2][6]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it in the Apologia.^[2][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has the comparative macilentiores of faces.^[4][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Thin, lean, meagre.^[2][4]
2. (Late Latin) Of soil: poor, barren.^[4]

Related words

• macer
• macies

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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