obsolesco

Forms

obsolēscō (present infinitive obsolēscere, perfect active obsolēvī, supine obsolētum); third conjugation, no passive^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + soleō (“to be accustomed”) + -scō, an inchoative, as the OLD and the TLL take it.^[2][3] Wiktionary divides it instead as obs- and olēscō.^[1] Caesellius, quoted by Cassiodorus, already held that the ⟨s⟩ belongs to the prefix ⟨obs⟩, as in ⟨abs⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citations are Varro and Cicero: Varro hopes that faulty forms of speech will fall out of use and so be more easily corrected, and Cicero in the speech for Quinctius speaks of the old sense of duty whose splendour has faded in his day.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to fall into disuse or be forgotten:^[2][4] Cicero has military pursuits neglected among the young, and documents of the old strictness that had perished.^[2] Seneca says that what flourished while new fades with time.^[2] Apuleius uses it of the clearness of the voice fading in the windpipe.^[2] It also means to lose esteem or lustre: Cicero says that virtue shines by itself and is never tarnished by others' faults, Gellius that Latin comedies pale beside the wit of the Greek ones, and Pliny the Younger that a man may shine in war but sink into obscurity in peace.^[2] English formed obsolesce from it in 1801.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of faulty usages falling out of use.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of tarnished splendour.^[2]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of things fading with time.^[2]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius of Latin comedies paling beside Greek.^[2]
• 1801 – English obsolesce.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fall into disuse, be forgotten, become obsolete; to wear out, decay.^[2][4][1][6]
2. (of physical qualities) To fade away.^[2]
3. To lose esteem, be tarnished; to sink into obscurity.^[2]

Word family

• inobsoletus
• obsoleto
• obsolētus

Related words

• soleō
• exolēscō
• English obsolete

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson