Etymologically
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nudus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈnuː.dʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnuː.dus][1]

Forms

nūdus (feminine nūda, neuter nūdum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *nowoþo- (“naked”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *nogʷ- (“naked”), from a root adjective that took different suffixes in the different languages.[2][1] De Vaan follows Schrijver in deriving the Latin form through ⟨*nogʷoþo-⟩ > ⟨*nowodo-⟩ > ⟨*noodo-⟩ > ⟨nūdus⟩.[2] L&S explained it as standing for ⟨*nugdus⟩.[3]

Cognate with Old Irish nocht, Welsh noeth, Sanskrit नग्न (nagná), Ancient Greek γυμνός (gumnós), Lithuanian núogas, Old Church Slavonic нагъ (nagŭ), Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌵𐌰𐌸𐍃 (naqaþs) and Old English nacod, all “naked”.[2][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[2] who has pulchra mulier nūda erit quam purpurāta pulchrior, “a beautiful woman will be more beautiful naked than dressed in purple”.[4]

Semantic evolution

Nūdus is “naked”, of a person or a part of the body, and also “stripped” of one's outer garment, as in Virgil's nūdus arā, sere nūdus, “plough stripped, sow stripped”.[4][3] A person driven out nūdus has lost everything.[4] It is “unarmed” and of a place or army “exposed to attack”, with an ablative “lacking the protection of”;[4][1] “unsheltered” and of the dead “unburied”; of a sword “drawn”; and of a horse “unsaddled”.[4][1] Things are nūda without their normal covering: bare bones, bare ground, leafless trees, featherless creatures, husked grain, a clear sky.[4][1] Wiktionary adds “poor, needy”, “bare, simple, pure” and “unadorned”.[1]

In Medieval Latin a holding is nūdus when it has no tenant.[5] English nude was first a legal term, “unsupported”, in the 1530s.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: pulchra mulier nūda.[4][7]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.[7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a man stripped of his inheritance.[4][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: nūdus arā, sere nūdus.[4][7]
  • 1530s – Borrowed into English as nude.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. naked, unclothed; bare (of parts of the body).[4][3][1]
  2. Stripped of one's outer garment; stripped of possessions.[4][1]
  3. Unarmed; exposed, defenceless.[4][1]
  4. Unsheltered; unburied.[4]
  5. Drawn, unsheathed (of a sword).[4]
  6. Bare, without its natural covering; leafless; hairless; husked.[4][1]
  7. Poor, needy.[1]
  8. Mere, simple, pure; unadorned.[1]
  9. (Medieval Latin) Not held by a tenant.[5]

Word family

  • nudipes
  • nūditās
  • nūdō
  • nūdulus
  • renudus
  • sēminūdus
  • nūdē

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de