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saxosus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word saxosus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin (saxum)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin saxum
Latin saxeus
Latin saxosus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sakˈsoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [sakˈsɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

saxōsus (feminine saxōsa, neuter saxōsum); first/second-declension adjective[1] A collateral form saxuōsus occurs in Siculus Flaccus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin saxum (“rock”) + -ōsus.[3][1] De Vaan traces that noun to Proto-Italic *saks-o-, but finds no certain etymology for it.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Virgil,[5] who in the Eclogues speaks of rivers running down rocky valleys, saxōsās inter dēcurrunt flūmina vallēs.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means full of rocks or stones, rocky: Virgil also has rocky mountains, Ovid a rocky ridge, Columella a rocky sea and Statius a part of the Appian Way.[3][2] Virgil's river Hypanis, saxōsusque sonāns, roars over rocks,[6][7] and Statius' saxōsum murmur is the whirr of a stone.[3][7]

As a neuter plural noun, saxōsa, it means rocky places: Quintilian notes that some kinds of fish delight in level bottoms, others in rocky ones.[3][2] Pliny the Elder uses it of a shrub growing among rocks.[3]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of rocky valleys.[3][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a rocky ridge.[3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a plant growing among rocks.[3]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses the neuter plural for rocky places.[3][2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Full of rocks or stones; rocky, stony.[3][2]
  2. (of plants) Growing among rocks.[3]
  3. (neuter plural as noun) Rocky places.[3][2]

Word family

  • saxōsitās

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
Cite this entry

“Saxosus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/saxosus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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