odorus

Forms

odōrus (feminine odōra, neuter odōrum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin odor (“smell”) + -us.^[2][1][3] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *odōs (“odour”) and the root Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to smell”).^[4] It is cognate with Ancient Greek ὄζω (ózō, “to smell”) and Lithuanian úosti (“to smell, sniff”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro (116–27 BC) is the first to have it, in his work on the Latin language, apparently quoting a poet.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is chiefly poetic, and in prose the TLL finds it no earlier than Apuleius;^[3][6] Lewis & Short describe it as poetic and post-Augustan for odōrātus¹.^[3][6] Ovid uses it of a fragrant flower and of the tree whose tears are myrrh,^[2][6] Statius of the pungent smell of sulphur,^[2] and Claudian of a light that stinks of sulphur.^[6] Virgil's odora canum vis “a keen-scented force of hounds” transfers it to the sense of smell.^[2][6] A comparative odorius in Pliny the Elder is doubtful, and Isidore of Seville has the superlative odorissimus.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro has it, apparently from a poet.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of keen-scented hounds.^[2][6][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a fragrant flower and of the myrrh tree.^[2][6][5]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of pungent sulphur.^[2][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius is the first to use it in prose.^[3][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses the superlative odorissimus.^[6][3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a smell; fragrant, sweet-smelling.^[2][6]
2. Strong-smelling, pungent;^[2][6] (post-Classical) foul-smelling.^[2][6]
3. Of the sense of smell; keen-scented.^[2][6]

Word family

• inodōrus
• beneodōrus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press