rimosus

Forms

rīmōsus (feminine rīmōsa, neuter rīmōsum), comparative rīmōsior; first/second-declension adjective^[2][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rīma (“crack, fissure”) + -ōsus.^[3][1] De Vaan finds several etymologies of that noun possible, among them a root meaning “to tear, break”, and leaves its origin unclear.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Vitruvius,^[5] who uses it of cracked plaster.^[6] Lewis and Short also cite Propertius, of doors, and Virgil, whose cumba rīmōsa takes in much marsh water.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

It means full of cracks or fissures, and so leaky: Lewis and Short note that it belongs to poetry and to prose after Augustus.^[7] Columella uses it of a building, Juvenal of vessels and Gellius has the comparative of a lung.^[7][6] Horace uses it figuratively of a “leaky” ear that cannot keep a secret, and Ambrose says that there is nothing rīmōsum in the soul he praises.^[7][6][2]

Medieval writers kept both uses:^[8] Aldhelm speaks of the leaky boat of a fragile wit, John of Salisbury in a letter of 1168 of a “leaky” heart, and Walter of Wimborne of the Virgin's hand that is always open to the needy.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of cracked plaster.^[6][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of an ear that cannot keep secrets.^[7][2]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a leaky boat.^[7][2]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses the comparative rīmōsior.^[7][6]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of a leaky boat of the mind.^[8]
• 1168 – John of Salisbury uses it figuratively in a letter.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of cracks, chinks or fissures; leaky.^[3][7]
2. Chapped (of skin).^[1]
3. (figurative) Unable to keep a secret.^[7][6]

Word family

• perrimosus

Related words

• rīma

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d 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