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saxeus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word saxeus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
280/260–before 200 BC, Livius Andronicus
Ultimate origin
Latin (saxum)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin saxum
Latin saxeus
Latin saxosus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsak.se.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsak.se.us][1]

Forms

saxeus (feminine saxea, neuter saxeum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin saxum (“rock, stone”) + -eus.[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *saks-o- for saxum; it cannot come from the root of secō “to cut”, and a link with Old Norse sax and Old High German sahs (“knife”) is doubtful.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus,[3] whose tragedy has the Castalian spring falling over stony heaps.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is made of stone or rock, and imber saxeus is a shower of stones: Accius, quoted by Cicero, has a rocky mass, Lucretius stone enclosures and paved streets, and Ovid a rocky crag.[2][4] It is also coming from rock, as Virgil's rocky shade, and full of rocks, as Pacuvius' rocky temples of Bacchus.[2] The Bellum Africum has hail like stones, and Pliny the Younger calls anyone who does not wish to know a certain man stony and iron.[2] Church Latin glosses it stony.[5]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus of stony heaps.[2][3][6]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of rocky temples.[2][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of stone walls.[4][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of rocky shade.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Made of stone or rock;[2][4][1][5] imber saxeus, a shower of stones.[2][4][1][5]
  2. Coming from rock; full of rocks, rocky.[2][1]
  3. Like stones in size or hardness.[2]
  4. (figurative) Stony, unfeeling.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Saxeus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/saxeus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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