Etymologically
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roscidus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈroːs.kɪ.dʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɔʃ.ʃi.dus][1]

Forms

rōscidus (feminine rōscida, neuter rōscidum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Varro writes it ruscidus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin rōs (“dew”) + -idus, with a ⟨-c-⟩ that Wiktionary explains by analogy with mūcidus, sūcidus and viscidus.[2][1] De Vaan traces rōs to Proto-Italic *rōs (“dew”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁rōs (“dew, juice”), and compares Lithuanian rasà (“dew”) and Sanskrit रस (rása-, “juice, liquid”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,[3] who says that grass wet with dew is then more pleasant to the sheep than at midday.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is wet with dew, dewy, and consisting of dew; also dripping with moisture, as Virgil's rocks wet with streams.[2] As a neuter plural noun it is damp places, which vines hate according to Pliny the Elder.[2] Of the air it is full of dew, as in Vitruvius, and it is an epithet of the moon and stars, which were thought to bring dew.[2] It also means like dew: in Virgil the hard oaks sweat dewy honey.[2] Columella, Palladius and Propertius use it of dewy soil, sky, twigs and fruit.[4]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of dewy grass.[2][3][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of dewy air.[2]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of wet rocks and dewy honey.[2]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of damp places.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Wet with dew, dewy; consisting of dew.[2][4][1]
  2. Dripping with moisture, moist, wet.[2][1]
  3. Full of dew (of the air); bringing dew (of the moon and stars).[2]
  4. Like dew.[2]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de