Etymologically
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reses

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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]

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