pestilens

Forms

pestilēns (genitive pestilentis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pestis (“plague, pestilence”).^[2][3][4] The TLL groups it with adjectives in ⟨-lent(o)-⟩ that vary between two forms, such as ⟨violēns⟩ beside ⟨violentus⟩; some refer Laevius' plural ⟨pestilenta⟩ to a form pestilentus, but it could be made from ⟨pestilēns⟩ as poets made ⟨silenta⟩ from ⟨silēns⟩.^[2] The OLD compares that form, and Wiktionary takes this adjective as probably a back-formation from it.^[5][1] De Vaan finds no convincing etymology for pestis.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato,^[6] who writes of building in an unhealthy place.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is first said of places full of disease, unhealthy, opposed to healthy ones;^[5][4] Cicero speaks of an unhealthy house and of the heavy, pestilent exhalation of the air.^[5][4] Livy calls a year pestilent for the city and a summer for animals, and Horace the south-west wind.^[4] The declamations ascribed to Quintilian use it of the plague-stricken.^[5] By extension it is pernicious or disastrous, of persons or things: Cicero calls a year most grievous and pestilent.^[5]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of an unhealthy place.^[5][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro.^[3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of pestilent air.^[5][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of the south-west wind.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of disease, unhealthy, pestilential; plague-stricken.^[5][4][1]
2. Dangerous to life or health, noxious.^[5][1]
3. Pernicious, disastrous.^[5][1]

Word family

• pestilentia
• pestilentiōsus

Related words

• pestis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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