Etymologically
Log in

redoleo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 09:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈdɔ.ɫe.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈdɔː.le.o][1]

Forms

redoleō (present infinitive redolēre, perfect active redoluī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1] Priscian records the perfects redoluī and redolēvī.[2] A late manuscript spells it reoleō.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from red- and oleō (“to smell”).[3][1][2] De Vaan treats oleō under odor (“smell”), tracing the family to Proto-Italic *ode/o- (“to smell”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to smell”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ὄζω (ózō, “to smell”) and Lithuanian úosti (“to smell, sniff”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first quotation is from Lucretius,[3] who says that broken things seem to smell more, fracta magis redolere videntur omnia.[3]

Semantic evolution

Intransitively it is to give off a smell, to be fragrant:[3] Virgil has honey fragrant with thyme, and Ovid apples in open baskets.[5] Transitively it is to smell of something: Cicero speaks of food reeking of wine, vīnum redolentibus, and Pliny the Elder, Quintilian and Martial use it of ointments, thyme and delicacies.[3][5] Figuratively it is to smack of: Cicero has speeches that smack of antiquity, and says that Athens itself seems to breathe from another orator's speeches.[5] Capitolinus uses it of getting scent of something.[5] In Church Latin it is to smell, to be redolent of.[6]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of things giving off a smell.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of reeking of wine and of speeches smacking of antiquity.[3][5][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of honey fragrant with thyme.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To give off a scent, be fragrant or odorous.[3][5][1][6]
  2. To smell of, be redolent of;[3][5][1] figuratively, to smack of.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b 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 f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de