nitrosus

Forms

nitrōsus (feminine nitrōsa, neuter nitrōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin nitrum + -ōsus.^[2][1][3] nitrum (“natron, soda”) is from Ancient Greek νίτρον (nítron, “sodium carbonate, sodium or potassium nitrate”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius, in the 1st century BC, speaks of a kind of cold water that is nitrosum, full of natron.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Elder used it of waters, springs and lakes that hold natron.^[6][3][4] It stayed a word for mineral waters: in medieval Britain Bede writes of rare but nitrous springs, and Bartholomaeus Anglicus lists nitrous water among liquids drawn from veins in the earth.^[7]

Middle English had nitrose “nitrous; bitter, sour” in the early 15th century, and English nitrous came from the Latin about 1600; its narrower chemical sense dates from the 1780s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius describes a kind of nitrous cold water.^[3][4][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of nitrous springs and lakes.^[6][3][5]
• 1st third of the 8th century AD – Bede writes of nitrous springs.^[7][5]
• early 15th century – Middle English has nitrose.^[8]
• c. 1600 – English borrows it as nitrous.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing or abounding in natron or nitre, of waters, springs and lakes.^[2][3][6][7]

Related words

• English nitrous

References

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