saevus

Forms

saevus (feminine saeva, neuter saevum, comparative saevior, superlative saevissimus, adverb saevē); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Ammianus has a third-declension form, genitive plural saevium.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *saiwo- (“savage”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂i-wo-, from a root *sh₂ey- (“to rage, be in pain”).^[3][1][4] De Vaan suggests this root may be the same as ⟨*sh₂i-⟩ “to tie”, since raging and pain are sometimes described as being bound by an outside force.^[3] The OLD compares Latvian sievs (“cruel”);^[5][2] Lewis and Short thought of scaevus.^[5][2]

Cognate with Old Irish sáeth (“sorrow”), Hittite šāi- (“to become angry”), Ancient Greek αἰανής (aianḗs, “irritating”) and Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍂 (sair, “pain”), and English sore.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Livius Andronicus.^[3][4] Plautus has nunc truculentō mī atque saevō ūsus senest, “now I need a fierce and savage old man”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Saevus is “harsh, savage, ferocious”, of people and their words and deeds, and also “wild, untamed” and, of animals, “fierce”.^[5][2][1] It is used of violent forces such as storms, of cruel conditions and dangers, of severe pain, and of violent passions (Ennius: Medea amōre saevō saucia, “wounded by fierce love”).^[5] Lewis and Short say it means roused to fierceness, while ferus is fierce by nature.^[2] Döderlein groups it with atrōx and trux, words for what looks terrifying.^[6]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Used by Livius Andronicus.^[3][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius: amōre saevō saucia;^[5][4] dracōnis saevī, “of the fierce dragon”.^[5][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: truculentō … atque saevō.^[5][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius: genus ācre leōnum saevaque saecla, “the fierce race of lions and savage breeds”.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. savage, fierce, ferocious, cruel.^[5][2][1]
2. Wild, untamed.^[5]
3. Fierce (of animals).^[5]
4. Violent (of storms and other forces).^[5][1]
5. Harsh, cruel (of conditions); severe (of pain).^[5]
6. Violent, vehement (of passions).^[5]

Related words

• ferus
• atrōx
• trux
• English sore

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper