politus

Forms

polītus (feminine polīta, neuter polītum, comparative polītior, superlative polītissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

The adjective is from Latin poliō (“to polish, smooth”): its perfect passive participle, used as an adjective.^[1][3][2] De Vaan finds the origin of that verb unclear.^[4] An old explanation, revived by Seldeslachts, makes it a back-formation from ⟨polīvī⟩, the perfect of polinō (“to besmear”); de Vaan finds the shift of meaning conceivable but asks why the language would then have given up ⟨polinō⟩.^[4] Vendryes took it for a term of the fullers' trade.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation in the OLD is from Varro's Menippean satires: hīc in cēnāculō polītō recipiuntur, “here they are received in an elegant upper room”.^[1] Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Of things it means polished, refined or elegant in appearance: Varro has royally finished buildings, Phaedrus an elegant house, and Pliny the Younger a most elegant bedroom.^[1][2] Cicero uses it above all of people refined by learning and manners: no city produced men more polished in culture, while the people of Caria, Phrygia and Mysia were the least polished and elegant, and a man made for persuasion could come polītus ex scholā, polished from the school.^[1][2]

Cicero also applies it to writing, wit and judgement: most polished jests, a subtle and polished style, a nicely polished judgement.^[1] Pliny the Younger praises a letter as polished.^[1][2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is the participle of polīre, with the adverb polītē.^[6]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of an elegant room.^[1][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of cultivated people and polished wit.^[1][5]
• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it of an elegant house.^[1][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Polished; refined or elegant in appearance.^[1][2]
2. Of people, refined, cultivated, polished.^[1][2]
3. Of writing, speech and wit, polished, elegant.^[1][2]

Related words

• poliō
• expoliō
• polītiō

Usage notes

Medieval British verse also has a noun politus, the polish or smoothness of a surface.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ 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