scrupulosus

Forms

scrūpulōsus (feminine scrūpulōsa, neuter scrūpulōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin scrūpulus + -ōsus.^[2][1] De Vaan files it under scrūpus, beside scrūpulus (“worry, precaution”), and finds no etymology for the family.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short quote a line of Pacuvius (220–130 BC) in which a cave is called scrūpulōsus, full of sharp stones;^[4][5] de Vaan dates the word from Varro.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense was jagged, full of sharp points of rock: Cicero says his speech has sailed out from among such rocks.^[2][4] From the Imperial period it was mostly used of minutely careful, anxious attention to detail, as in Valerius Maximus and Seneca.^[2]

Christian Latin kept the sense exact, anxious, scrupulous.^[6] Medieval British Latin also used it for curious or inquisitive,^[7] and Du Cange records it for intricate, difficult questions.^[8] English borrowed it in the mid-15th century as scrupulous.^[9]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius calls a cave rugged with sharp stones.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of jagged rocks in a metaphor for his speech.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of minutely careful workmanship.^[2][5]
• mid-15th century – Borrowed into English as scrupulous.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of sharp points of rock, jagged, rough.^[2][4]
2. Minutely careful, anxious about detail, scrupulous, exact.^[2][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Curious, inquisitive.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Intricate, difficult.^[8]

Word family

• scrūpulōsitās

Related words

• English scrupulous

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com