Etymologically
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rugosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ruːˈɡoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ruˈɡɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

rūgōsus (feminine rūgōsa, neuter rūgōsum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Comparative rūgōsior.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin rūga (“wrinkle”) + -ōsus.[2][4][1] De Vaan traces rūga to Proto-Italic *roug-ā- and Proto-Indo-European *h1roug-h2- (“wrinkle”), most likely connected with ērūgō (“to belch”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucilius,[4] who speaks of wrinkled, withered old men: rugosi passique senes.[2] Köbler dates it from Horace.[5]

Semantic evolution

It means full of wrinkles, folds or creases.[2] It is used of persons and parts of the body, from age or other causes:[2] Horace has wrinkled eunuchs, Ovid wrinkled cheeks, and Martial a woman whose brow is more wrinkled than her robe;[3] a wrinkled forehead shows seriousness or disapproval.[2] Poets extend it: Tibullus speaks of wrinkled old age and Horace of a village wrinkled with cold.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, of wrinkled old men.[2][4][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of wrinkled eunuchs and a village wrinkled with cold.[3][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of wrinkled cheeks.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Full of wrinkles, folds or creases, wrinkled.[2][3][1]
  2. Shrivelled.[3][1]

Word family

  • rugositas

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de