saliva

Forms

salīva f (genitive salīvae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Italic *sal-īwo- (“dirty yellow”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *slH-V- (“dirty yellow”).^[2] De Vaan compares Irish sal (“dirt”), Welsh halawg (“dirty”), Old High German salo (“dirt”) and Old Norse sǫlr (“dirty yellow”); if the word is indeed related to the Balto-Slavic and Germanic words for “grey”, it may be built on an older adjective ⟨*saluus⟩, as vocīvus beside vacuus.^[2] The OLD likewise compares Old Irish and Gaelic forms.^[3] Wiktionary calls the origin unknown: perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *solH-, or an expressive formation, compare Ancient Greek σίαλον (síalon, “spittle”);^[1] Lewis & Short also relate it to the Greek word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,^[2] who reports that goat's saliva is said to be poison to crops.^[3] Köbler's first author is Catullus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is spittle or saliva in the mouth;^[4][3] Lewis & Short note that sputum is rather what has been spat out.^[4][3] It is used in the singular and plural, by Catullus, Seneca, Pliny the Elder and Juvenal.^[4] As the sign of pleasant anticipation or greed it is the mouth's watering: Petronius' host says everything that makes the mouth water grows on his estate near the city.^[3] Propertius applies it to other similar substances, and to the distinctive flavour of a wine, the Greek taste of Methymnaean wine.^[3] English saliva (early 15th century) came through Old French salive and directly from Latin.^[6]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of goat's saliva.^[3][2]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus.^[4][5]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of the flavour of wine.^[3]
• before 66 AD – Petronius of the mouth watering.^[3]
• early 15th century – English saliva.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Saliva, spittle; the watering of the mouth from appetite or greed.^[3][4][1][7]
2. A similar substance.^[3]
3. A distinctive flavour, especially of wine.^[3]

Related words

• sputum
• English saliva

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson