Etymologically
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rotundus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [rɔˈtʊn.dʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [roˈtun.dus][1]

Forms

rotundus (feminine rotunda, neuter rotundum, comparative rotundior, superlative rotundissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is probably an old verbal adjective in -undus, like secundus, related to rota “wheel”.[2][1] De Vaan derives it either from a present *rete/o- “to run, roll”, with its vowel taken from rota, or from a lost o-grade verb *rot- “to roll”.[3][1] Rota is inherited from Proto-Italic *rot-ā-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *Hrot-o/h₂- (“wheel”).[3]

Cognate with Old Irish reithid (“runs”), Lithuanian rãtas (“wheel”), Old High German rad (“wheel”) and Sanskrit रथ (rátha, “chariot”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Cato (234–149 BC), who uses it of a round channel in an oil press.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant shaped like a wheel, round or circular, as Varro's table that was square and later made round, and also spherical, as Cicero's stars that are globular and round, and his creator who turned the world so that nothing could be rounder.[2][4]

Of a speaker or style it meant smooth and well-rounded, as Cicero's Theodorus, “not round enough”, and Horace's Greeks given a rounded utterance by the Muse.[2] It was also used of a facile classification.[2] Through Vulgar Latin *retundus it gave Spanish redondo and English round about 1300, and English rotund was borrowed in 1705.[5]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a round channel.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a round table.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of spherical stars and of style.[2][6]
  • c. 1300 – English round is recorded.[5]
  • 1705 – English rotund is borrowed.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Round, circular.[2][1]
  2. Spherical, rotund.[2][1]
  3. (of style) Smooth, well-rounded, polished.[2][1]
  4. (of a classification) Facile, simplistic.[2]

Word family

  • rotundifolius
  • rotunditās
  • rotundō
  • sēmirotundus
  • rotundē

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de