operose

Forms

operōsē (comparative operōsius)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is an adverb, from Latin operōsus (“painstaking, laborious”), formed with -ē.^[1][3][4] The adjective is made from opera (“work, effort”),^[5] and Köbler traces it to opus (“work”),^[6] which goes back to Proto-Italic *opes- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-os (“work”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Gaffiot first record it in Cicero's Orator,^[6][2] where it means laboriously, with difficulty.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

It means with (too) much care and effort, painstakingly, laboriously.^[1][3] Hirtius, in the preface to the eighth book of Caesar's Gallic War, says that nothing by other writers had been composed with such care.^[8] Seneca speaks of doing nothing laboriously and uses the comparative of men's minds being more busily occupied,^[3][2] while Pliny the Elder uses the comparative for more precisely, of describing something more exactly.^[3][2][8] In medieval British Latin it means with great care or effort, diligently: William of Malmesbury writes of a chain worked more elaborately, and Orderic Vitalis of a city carefully fortified.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the Orator.^[2][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of minds busily occupied.^[3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses the comparative for “more precisely”.^[3][6]
• c. 1168 – John of Salisbury uses the comparative in a letter.^[9]

Meanings

Adverb

1. With (too) much care and effort, painstakingly, laboriously.^[1][3]
2. With difficulty.^[2][8]
3. (comparative) More precisely, more exactly.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press