ponderosus

Forms

ponderōsus (feminine ponderōsa, neuter ponderōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pondus (“weight”) + -ōsus.^[2][1][3] The base pondus belongs to the family of pendō (“to weigh”), and goes back to Proto-Italic *pendos- (“weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend-e/o- (“to spin”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[5] who uses it in the Captivi of heavy fetters.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Varro uses it of grain and, in the comparative, of heavier wool;^[6] the superlative is found only once in Valerius Maximus and in Pliny the Elder, who speaks of the heaviest stones.^[3][6] Valerius Maximus also uses it figuratively, of a weighty, dignified voice.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it meant “suffering from a hernia”.^[7] Latin ponderosus is the source of English ponderous, first “thick”, then “heavy, weighty”.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls fetters ponderosae.^[6][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of grain and of wool.^[6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses the superlative of stones.^[6][3][5]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as ponderous.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Heavy, weighty, massive.^[2][6]
2. (figurative) Weighty, dignified.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Suffering from a hernia.^[7]

Related words

• English ponderous

Usage notes

An ancient treatise on differences between words separates grave from ponderosum: something is grave according to the strength of the one who carries it, but ponderosum by its own nature.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com