putidus

Forms

pūtidus (feminine pūtida, neuter pūtidum, comparative pūtidior, superlative pūtidissimus, adverb pūtidē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pūteō (“to rot, stink”) + -idus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists both among the derivatives of pūs (“pus”), and bases pūteō on a participle ⟨*pūto-⟩, from Proto-Indo-European *puH-to- (“rotten”).^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit पूयति (pū́yati, “to rot, stink”) and Ancient Greek πύον (púon, “pus”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4] In the OLD's earliest quotation Plautus calls a man a rotten fungus.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is rotting or decaying, and of a wound festering: Cicero has rotten flesh, Plautus spoilt wine.^[6][2] Without the idea of decay it is foul-smelling: Varro speaks of a place stinking of sulphur and alum.^[2] As a term of abuse for people it is decrepit or disgusting: Plautus has a rotten old man daring to play the lover at his age.^[2] Of the brain it is addled.^[2] Of words and actions it is objectionable, tiresome: Cicero says that things will seem tedious and wearisome to his hearers.^[2] In particular it is affected or pedantic in language and pronunciation.^[2] The TLL notes that the comparative appears rarely from Horace on, the superlative in Cicero and Petronius.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a rotten fungus and of an old man.^[2][4][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of rotten leaves.^[6][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of a stinking place.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of rotten flesh and of tiresome talk.^[6][2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Rotting, decaying, putrid; of a wound, festering.^[2][6][1]
2. Stinking, fetid, foul.^[2][6][1]
3. Of people, as abuse, decrepit, disgusting; of the brain, addled.^[2][1]
4. Of words or actions, objectionable, tiresome; of language, affected, pedantic.^[2][1]

Word family

• pūtidiusculus
• pūtidulus
• pūtidē

Related words

• pūteō
• pūtor
• pūs

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press