residuus

Forms

residuus (feminine residua, neuter residuum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin resideō (“to remain behind”) + -uus.^[2][1][3] resideō is a compound of re- and sedeō (“to sit”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *sed-ē- (“to be seated”) and Proto-Indo-European *sed-eh₁- (“to be seated”), cognate with Old Irish saidid (“to sit”) and Ancient Greek ἕζομαι (hézomai, “to sit down”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its oldest attestation is a line of Accius quoted by Festus, residuos, somno deditos, where it means sitting idle, like reses.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero it is what is left over from an earlier time, as a hatred he thought he had poured out but that had lingered.^[2][5] In the Pro Cluentio pecūniae residuae are public funds kept back by a magistrate after his accounts.^[2] It is also what remains to be done or paid, as Cicero's what was paid and what is outstanding,^[2] and what is left after something is taken away, the rest; as a noun residuum is the remainder.^[2][5] The jurists have an exceptiō reī residuae, against a plaintiff who had split his claims.^[2] Jerome, commenting on Obadiah, uses it to render the Hebrew word sarid.^[3] English residue comes from residuum through Old French, from the mid-14th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius, of people sitting idle.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of lingering hatred and of public money kept back.^[2][5][7]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome renders a Hebrew word by it.^[3][7]
• mid-14th century – English residue, from the neuter noun through Old French.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Left over from an earlier time, lingering, persisting.^[2][5][1]
2. pecūniae residuae: public money kept back by a magistrate after his accounts.^[2]
3. Left behind at the end of a process, residual.^[2][1]
4. Remaining to be done or undergone; of a debt, outstanding.^[2]
5. Left over after something is taken away, remaining;^[2][5][8] (neuter as noun) the remainder, rest.^[2][5][8]
6. Sitting idle, slothful.^[2]

Related words

• resideō
• reses
• sedeō
• English residue

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson