Etymologically
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saltus

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Forms

saltus m (genitive saltūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from saliō “to leap” with the action suffix -tus.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot cites Lucretius, and Cicero has saltū ūtī “to leap”.[3][4] Köbler dates Lucretius 96–55 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a jump, leap, bound, as in Cicero, Seneca and Virgil, with saltum dare “to make a leap”, as in Ovid.[2][3][4] Sallust says Pompey competed in leaping with the agile and in running with the swift.[4] In Ovid it also meant a stage, step.[2]

In Medieval Latin it meant a stride as a measure of length, an assault, and the skipping of an intermediate order in ordination.[6] It survives in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese salto and French saut.[1] English sault “waterfall, rapid” came about 1600 through colonial French.[7]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses saltū ūtī.[4][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of leaping.[3][5]
  • c. 1600 – English sault is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A leap, jump, bound.[2]
  2. (figurative) A stage, step.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A stride; an assault.[6]

Word family

  • salticus
  • saltuārius
  • saltuātim
  • saltuensis
  • saltuōsus

Usage notes

A different saltus, of uncertain origin, meant a forest pass or defile, a wooded upland pasture, an estate, and a land measure.[2][1] Varro derived it from salvus, and Isidore of Seville from trees leaping upward.[2][1][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).