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nodosus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word nodosus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
2nd half of the 1st century BC, Moretum
Ultimate origin
Latin nodus,-osus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nodus
English node
Latin nodosus
From the same root
Latin nodo ← nodus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [noːˈdoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [noˈdɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

nōdōsus (feminine nōdōsa, neuter nōdōsum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin nōdus (“knot”) + -ōsus.[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs nōdus as Proto-Indo-European *nōdo- (“knot”), also possible as *noHdo- or *neh3do-, but calls its root etymology uncertain and allows a loanword.[3] He compares Old Norse nót (“net”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the Moretum.[4]

Semantic evolution

It means tied into many knots, full of knots, as Ovid's knotted hunting nets and the Medusa whose hair is knotted with snakes;[2] Apuleius uses it of knotted, twisted letters guarded from the curious.[2] Horace calls the lawyer Cicuta nodosus, one who ties people up with legal formulas.[2] Of problems it means knotty, hard to solve, as in Seneca's letters.[2] It is also full of knobs, gnarled, as Ovid's knotty stick, Lucan's neck bones and Seneca's branches, and of limbs knotty or sinewy, as shoulders and arms in Statius;[2][5] of grasses it means full of joints, as the reed in Persius.[2]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 1st century BC – The Moretum.[4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of a lawyer tying people up in formulas.[2][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of knotted nets and a knotty stick.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of a knotty problem.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Full of knots, knotted.[2][5][1]
  2. Of problems: knotty, hard to solve, intricate.[2][1]
  3. Full of knobs, gnarled; of limbs, sinewy; of grasses, jointed.[2][5]

Word family

  • nōdōsitās

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Nodosus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/nodosus. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·