profundus

Forms

profundus (feminine profunda, neuter profundum, comparative profundior, superlative profundissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from prō- (“forward, far”) and fundus (“bottom”).^[2][3][1] The ancient grammarians already took it as a possessive compound, “whose bottom is far away”, so that it was first said of the sea.^[3] De Vaan derives ⟨fundus⟩ from Proto-Italic *fundo- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰ-n-ó- (“bottom”), with the nasal moved by metathesis, cognate with Sanskrit बुध्न (budhná-, “bottom, root”), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom”) and Old English botm (“bottom”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Ennius as its first author,^[5] who has caelus profundus, the boundless sky.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is extending a long way down, deep or bottomless, of seas and swamps, as Cicero's mare profundum et immēnsum, of valleys and chasms, as Sallust's earth that gaped in deep clefts, of wine drunk without limit, and of a deep voice.^[2][6][1] It is situated far below the surface, especially of the underworld and its people, and stretching far inwards, as Lucretius' deep forests, of darkness thick.^[2][6]

Of the heavens it is boundless, as in Ennius and Lucretius' ināne profundum, of desires insatiable, as Cicero's profundae libīdinēs, and of knowledge abstruse or mysterious, as in Manilius; of states it is profound or intense, as Apuleius' “deep love”.^[2][6][1] The neuter profundum is used as a noun, depth.^[7][1] Church Latin glosses it “deep, profound, vast, bottomless, boundless”,^[7] and medieval Latin “profound, abstruse, inscrutable”.^[8] Through Old French and directly it gave English profound about 1300.^[9]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of the boundless sky.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of deep forests and the boundless void.^[2][6][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust of deep chasms.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the deep sea and insatiable desires.^[2][5]
• c. 1300 – English profound.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Deep, bottomless;^[2][6][1][7] (of a voice) deep.^[2][6][1][7]
2. Far below the surface; of the underworld; stretching far inwards;^[2][1] (of darkness) thick.^[2][1]
3. Boundless, vast;^[2][6][1][7] (of desires) insatiable.^[2][6][1][7]
4. Abstruse, mysterious, profound; intense.^[2][1][8]

Word family

• profunditās
• profundum
• profundē

Related words

• fundus
• altus
• abyssus
• English profound

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com