Etymologically
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ponderosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɔn.dɛˈroː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pon.deˈrɔː.s̬us][1]

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]
  • 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