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odoratus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word odoratus

odoratus1 fragrant

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
234–149 BC, Cato
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₃ed-)
Etymology tree of odoratus1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin odor
French odeur
Latin odoratus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔ.doːˈraː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [o.doˈraː.tus][1]

Forms

odōrātus (feminine odōrāta, neuter odōrātum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Cato has the spelling oderatus.[2]

Etymology

The adjective “fragrant” is from Latin odor (“smell”) + -ātus.[3][2] Wiktionary and Lewis & Short take it as the participle of odōrō (“to perfume”).[1][4] De Vaan traces odor to Proto-Italic *odōs (“odour”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to smell”).[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ὄζω (ózō, “to smell”) and Lithuanian úosti (“to smell, sniff”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Cato's On Agriculture, which has rush and sweet flag put into a jar to make the wine fragrant.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means having a smell, especially of a stated kind, and more often sweet-smelling or fragrant, as Virgil's fragrant laurel grove.[3] The TLL records the comparative from Columella and the superlative from Pliny the Elder.[2]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of perfumed wine.[3][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a fragrant laurel grove.[3][6]
  • 1st century AD – Columella has the comparative.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having a smell of a certain kind; sweet-smelling, fragrant.[3][4][1]

odoratus2 sense of smell

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₃ed-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔ.doːˈraː.tʊs], [ɔ.doːˈraː.tuːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [o.doˈraː.tus], [o.doˈraː.tus][1]

Forms

odōrātus m (genitive odōrātūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

The noun “smelling” is from Latin odōror (“to smell, scent out”) + -tus, a fourth-declension noun of action.[3][4][2] The verb is from odor (“smell”).[1] Varro already connected the noun with odor.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short's first example is in Cicero's De natura deorum.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of smelling, as Cicero says that some things please not only the taste but also the smell and the sight, and the sense of smell, which Cicero lists with taste and Pliny the Elder ascribes to some insects.[4][3] Wiktionary also gives smell or odour.[1] Döderlein distinguishes odor, the smell a thing has in itself, from olfactus, the sensation or sense of smell.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of smelling and of the sense of smell.[4][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the sense of smell in insects.[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of smelling.[3][4][1]
  2. The sense of smell.[3][4][1]
  3. Smell, odour.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Odoratus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/odoratus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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