nigresco

Forms

nigrēscō (present infinitive nigrēscere, perfect active nigruī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin niger (“black”) + -ēscō, an inchoative verb meaning “to become black”.^[2][3] Wiktionary analyses it as nigreō (“to be black”) with the suffix -scō.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest uses in the OLD are in Virgil, who writes of sacred water turning black (vīdit laticēs nigrēscere sacrōs) and of darkness falling on everything around a dying speaker.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it means turning dark in colour: Ovid has veins dark with blood and arms growing black with feathers, Celsus feet and nails that blacken in serious illness, and Columella and Pliny the Elder olives and berries that darken as they ripen.^[2][3] It was also said of things stained or dirtied, such as teeth in Pliny and crystal cups darkened by old Falernian wine in Martial.^[2][3] A second sense is growing dark from loss of light: Ovid writes of the sky darkening with the south winds.^[2]

In Late Latin, the Vulgate says that the day will grow dark,^[5] and Prudentius uses it figuratively of hope and honour darkened by envy.^[3]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of water turning black and of falling darkness.^[2][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of veins and of the sky.^[2][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of limbs in illness.^[3][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of ripening olives.^[2][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate says the day will grow dark.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To become dark in colour, blacken, grow black.^[2][5][3]
2. To be darkened by dirt or staining.^[2]
3. To grow dark from loss of light.^[2][5]

Related words

• niger
• nigreō
• nigrō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de