naevus

Forms

naevus m (genitive naevī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2] The anonymous treatise on Roman first names equates the word with an older ⟨gnaevus⟩,^[3] and the dictionaries connect it with the first name Gnaeus.^[3][2][1] In Wiktionary's view it is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁iwós (“native”), from *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”), so that it first meant a mark one is born with,^[1] the explanation Lewis and Short and Georges also give.^[4][5] The OLD compares instead (g)nōscō “to get to know” and gnārus “knowing”,^[3] and the TLL suggests the root meaning “to know” with the adjective suffix of laevus and scaevus, so that the word would first have meant “conspicuous, marked”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucilius, who names it beside a wart,^[3][6] meaning a mole or birthmark on the skin.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a mole or discoloured mark on the body: Cicero mentions one on a boy's finger joint, Horace and Ovid speak of moles on a fine body,^[3][4] and Pliny the Elder reports that many people still thought it a matter of religious scruple to shave moles on the face.^[3]

From Symmachus on it was used figuratively for a blemish or fault,^[4][5][7] and Medieval Latin kept both uses, applying the word also to a freckle and to faults of verse, conduct and thought.^[8] Its Romance descendants include Italian neo and Romanian neg.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius names it beside a wart.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a mole on a boy's finger joint.^[3][4][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace speaks of finding fault with moles scattered on a fine body.^[3][4][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes that many think it wrong to shave moles on the face.^[3][6]
• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it figuratively for a blemish.^[4][5][6]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of people disfigured by no spots of blemishes.^[8][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mole, birthmark or other discoloured mark on the skin.^[3][4]
2. (figurative, Late Latin) A blemish, fault.^[4][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A freckle.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A defect, in prosody, conduct or thought.^[8]

Word family

• naevius

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press