parcus

Forms

parcus (feminine parca, neuter parcum, comparative parcior, superlative parcissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from parcō (“to spare”);^[2][3] the TLL suggests it was made on the model of largus (“generous”) beside ⟨largior⟩.^[3] De Vaan reports the proposal of Keller and Weiss to derive ⟨parcō⟩ from ⟨*pe-h₂erk-⟩ “to hold off”, from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂er(ḱ)- (“to hold”) of arceō (“to keep off”), and rejects a link with Sanskrit “to fill”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “nobody was ever thought as thrifty or as self-controlled” in the Mostellaria, and “nobody is stingier from poverty than he” in the Aulularia;^[2] Köbler also gives Plautus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is thrifty or economical, and in a bad sense stingy or parsimonious, as in Plautus.^[2][6][1] It is restrained, moderate or careful, as Horace's “a sparing and infrequent worshipper of the gods”, cautious in statement, as Pliny the Elder's “by the most cautious authorities”, and with an infinitive slow to do something, as in Martial.^[2][6] Of things it is moderate in amount, scanty or slight, as Virgil's cheese touched with a little salt.^[2][6][1]

Church Latin glosses it “sparing, stingy”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of thrift and stinginess.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a little salt.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of a sparing worshipper.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of cautious authorities.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Thrifty, frugal; stingy.^[2][6][1][7]
2. Restrained, moderate; cautious; slow (to do).^[2][6]
3. Scanty, slight, small.^[2][6][1]

Word family

• parcē
• parciter
• parcitās
• parcēprōmus
• dēparcus
• praeparcus
• triparcus

Related words

• parcō
• parsimōnia
• arceō
• largus

Usage notes

A medieval parcus, “park, enclosure”, is a form of parricus;^[7][1][8] the TLL notes that this word was once wrongly thought to occur in older Latin.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill