pus

Forms

pūs n (genitive pūris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pūs- (“pus”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *puH-os (“pus”), from the root *puH- (“to rot”).^[2][1] The nominative may come from the stem with -s- of the oblique cases, or from a sound change *puos > *puus > pūs.^[2] The same root is in pūteō (“to stink”) and puter (“rotten”).^[2]

Cognate with Sanskrit पुवस् (púvas, “pus”), Ancient Greek πύον (púon, “pus”), Latvian puvesis (“pus”) and Gothic 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐍃 (fuls, “foul”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Lucilius (c. 180–102 BC),^[2][3] who already uses it as an insult, listing it with fever, old age and vomit as names for a hateful person.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the medical writer Celsus it is the matter of a sore,^[4] and Pliny the Elder uses the plural pūra.^[4] Döderlein distinguishes it from saniēs: saniēs is running matter, pus corroding matter.^[5] Etymonline glosses the figurative sense as bitterness or malice.^[6] English borrowed the medical word in the late 14th century.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a hateful person.^[4][3]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of the matter of sores.^[4][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder has the plural pūra.^[4][3]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as pus.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. pus, foul matter from a sore.^[7][4][1]
2. (figurative) malice; a hateful person.^[4][6]

Word family

• pūrulentus
• suppūrō

Related words

• pūteō
• puter
• pūtidus
• English pus

Usage notes

A curse tablet written in mixed Latin and Oscan has an Oscan particle pus, the equivalent of Latin ut introducing a wish.^[7][8] The 7th-century grammarian Virgilius Maro invented a pus “guard” to explain the word corpus.^[8][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften