mitesco

Forms

mītēscō (present infinitive mītēscere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mītis (“mild, mellow”) + -ēscō, an inchoative verb.^[2][3][1][4] De Vaan traces mītis to Proto-Italic *mīti- and Proto-Indo-European *m(e)h₁i-ti- (“soft”), with cognates such as Irish mín (“soft”) and Lithuanian miélas (“nice, sweet, dear”); he suggests it may come from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Pacuvius, who speaks of the fruit of the crops being unable to grow or ripen.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is first used of fruit growing soft and ripe: Cicero writes that grapes ripen in the sun.^[2][3] Ovid uses it of plants that become soft in the flame.^[2] From there it means to grow mild: Horace has cold weather softened by the west winds, and Pliny the Elder the gentler slopes of the Alps.^[2] Of feelings and conditions it means to abate, as fear that subsides in a resolute mind in Pacuvius,^[2] and of people and animals to become milder or tamer, as in Accius, where no heart is so wild that misfortune does not soften it.^[2] Stelten gives "become mild, subside" for Church Latin.^[6] The form mītīscō also occurs.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of crops ripening and of fear abating.^[2][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of a heart softened by misfortune.^[2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of grapes ripening in the sun.^[3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of cold softened by the west winds.^[2]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the gentle slopes of the Alps.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of fruit) To become soft and mellow, ripen;^[2][3][1] (of other things) to become less tough or harsh.^[2][3][1]
2. (of weather, the sea) To grow mild, calm down;^[2][3][6] (of slopes) to become gentle;^[2][3][6] (of feelings) to abate.^[2][3][6]
3. To become milder in disposition, soften;^[2][3] (of animals) to grow tame.^[2][3]

Word family

• ēmītescō

Related words

• mītis
• mītigō

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 q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson