obtusus

Forms

obtūsus (feminine obtūsa, neuter obtūsum, comparative obtūsior); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Also spelled obtūnsus.^[1][2] Lewis and Short find no superlative.^[2]

Etymology

It is the participle of obtundō (“to beat, blunt”) used as an adjective,^[1][2][3] a compound of ob- and tundō (“to beat”).^[1] De Vaan traces tundō to Proto-Italic *(s)tund- and Proto-Indo-European *(s)tu-n-d- (“to thrust”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius uses it of an angle, angulus obtusus, and of strength that has been blunted, vires obtunsae.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Of weapons and tools it means “blunt”: Virgil has the blunted share of a plough and Columella a dull pruning hook;^[1][2] Pliny the Elder uses it of the horns of the moon.^[2] It was applied to dull light, to a hoarse or thick voice in Seneca the Elder and Quintilian,^[1][2] and to the senses and the mind: Cicero speaks of a mind whose sight is duller, Virgil of insensible hearts, Gellius of a dull wit.^[1][2] Tacitus uses it of a rough military jurisdiction.^[1]

In the Vulgate it is used of minds that were dulled,^[2] and in Ecclesiastical Latin it means “blunt, dull, obtuse”.^[5] The adverb obtūsē is post-classical.^[2]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of an angle and of weakened strength.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the mind.^[1][2][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a ploughshare and of hearts.^[1][2][3]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of the voice.^[2][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of dulled minds.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Blunt (of a weapon or tool); of an angle, obtuse.^[1][2]
2. Dull, lacking brilliance (of light); hoarse, thick (of the voice).^[1][2]
3. Dull, weak (of the senses or mind); of persons, obtuse.^[1][2]
4. Lacking refinement, rough (of actions).^[1]

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson