madidus

Forms

madidus (feminine madida, neuter madidum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin madeō (“to be wet”) + -idus.^[2][1] De Vaan traces madeō to Proto-Italic *mad-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *mh₂d-eh₁- (“to be wet”), and rejects a link with Irish words for “to burst”.^[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek μαδάω (madáō, “to be moist”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius,^[3] who uses it of a sow's womb softened by boiling.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Plautus already uses it of being drunk, in Mercury's threat to make a sober man tipsy.^[2] Lewis & Short note that it is rare until after Augustus;^[4] Cicero has a packet of letters soaked with water.^[4] It means wet or dripping, as Virgil's Menoetes in his streaming clothes, and specifically wet with tears, sweat or oil, and of a nose, running, as in Juvenal.^[2] Of land it is well watered and of the climate damp; of fruit it is juicy, and of a substance liquid.^[2] Martial uses it figuratively of a man steeped in the arts of Athens and Rome.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of a sow's womb softened by boiling.^[2][3][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a drunk man.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a man dripping wet.^[2][5]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial of a man steeped in learning.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Wet, soaked, drenched; wet with tears, sweat or oil.^[2][4][1]
2. Of land, well watered; of the climate, damp.^[2]
3. Full of liquid; of fruit, juicy; liquid.^[2]
4. Softened by soaking or boiling, sodden.^[2]
5. Drunk, tipsy.^[2][1]
6. Steeped in something, full of it.^[2]

Word family

• madido
• sēmimadidus

Related words

• madeō
• madefaciō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de