Etymologically
Log in

marmoreus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 18:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [marˈmɔ.re.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [marˈmɔː.re.us][1]

Forms

marmoreus (feminine marmorea, neuter marmoreum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Inscriptions also have marmorius and marmur-.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin marmor (“marble”) + -eus, an adjective of material.[3][2][1] The noun marmor was borrowed from Ancient Greek μάρμαρος (mármaros, “marble”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Lucilius;[4] the OLD also cites a fragment of the Cypria Ilias ascribed to Naevius for a “marble neck”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means made of marble, as in Cicero's statues of bronze, marble or ivory and in an old inscription of a statue.[3][5] It is also proper to marble, as Lucretius' “marble whiteness”; already in the earliest poetry it means like marble, especially in whiteness, of the human body.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “of marble”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius.[4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of marble whiteness.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of marble statues.[5][4]
  • 1723 – English marmoreal is formed from it.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Made of marble.[3][5][1]
  2. Of or proper to marble.[3]
  3. Like marble, especially in whiteness; marble-white.[3][5][1]

References

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