Etymologically
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proluvies

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [proːˈɫʊ.wi.eːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈluː.vi.es][1]

Forms

prōluviēs f (genitive prōluviēī); fifth declension[1] The genitive singular prōluviēī is attested only by the grammarian Charisius; the texts have the nominative, vocative, accusative and ablative singular.[2] Medieval manuscripts often spell it prolubies.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōluō (“to wash forth, flood”) + -iēs.[3][1][2] De Vaan treats the verbs in -luō as compounds of lavō (“to wash”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *lowa- and Proto-Indo-European *(le-)louh₃- (“to wash”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucretius, both of an overflow of water washing the rocks and of a black discharge from the bowels.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Its two senses run side by side from the start: a flood or overflow, as in a letter of Cicero describing a remarkable flood at Rome, above all on the Appian Way by the temple of Mars, and a discharge from the body, especially of the bowels.[3][6] Virgil calls the discharge of the bowels foedissima ventris proluvies “a most foul outpouring of the belly”, and Columella uses it of the same in animals.[6]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of an overflow and of a discharge of the bowels.[3][6][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a flood at Rome.[6][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a foul discharge of the belly.[6][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a discharge in animals.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An overflow, flood, inundation.[3][6]
  2. A discharge from the body, especially from the bowels.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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