Etymologically
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saxosus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 15:44. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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