reses

Forms

resēs (genitive residis); third-declension adjective of one termination^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin resideō (“to stay seated, remain behind”).^[1][2][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of sedeō (“to sit”),^[4] which goes back to Proto-Italic *sed-ē- (“to be seated”) and Proto-Indo-European *sed-eh₁- (“to be seated”).^[4] Cognate with Umbrian zeřef (“sitting”), Ancient Greek ἕζομαι (hézomai, “to sit down”), Lithuanian sėdė́ti (“to sit”) and Old Irish saidid (“to sit”).^[4] Paulus' epitome of Festus explains the word as meaning lazy “because he stays sitting”.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucilius,^[4] whose line has it in the sense of remaining behind.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was rare until after Augustus and is not found in Cicero or Caesar.^[2] Varro speaks of standing water, aqua resēs, and of cheese that stays undigested in the body;^[2][5] Livy of the common people who had stayed behind in the city.^[2][5] From staying put it came to mean idle and sluggish: Livy has men who hear the fighting while remaining idle themselves, and Virgil peoples long unused to arms and hearts long cold to love.^[2][6][5] Statius adds a genitive, unused to wars, and Valerius Flaccus and Statius apply it to cares and reasons tied to inaction.^[6][1]

Medieval writers used it for sluggish and lazy, glossed in Old English as slæc, and for remaining or enduring;^[7][3] the Regularis Concordia calls those monks still sitting residēs.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.^[4][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of standing water.^[2][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of men long unused to arms.^[5][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the people remaining in the city.^[2][3]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it with a genitive, unused to wars.^[6][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Remaining inactive or motionless; listless, sluggish, torpid.^[1][2]
2. Associated with inactivity (of cares, reasons and the like).^[1]
3. Staying behind, remaining;^[2][5] (of water) stagnant;^[2][5] (of food) undigested.^[2][5]
4. (with genitive) Unused to.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin, as noun) One who stays behind.^[7]

Related words

• resideō
• residuus
• sedeō

Usage notes

The nominative singular is not found in classical texts.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press