semesus

Forms

sēmēsus (feminine sēmēsa, neuter sēmēsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] In Virgil some editors print the four-syllable form sēmiēsus, read with three syllables;^[2][3] Ribbeck writes semessus.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēmi- (“half”) + ēsus (“eaten”),^[4][1][5] the second part being the past participle of edō¹ (“to eat”).^[4] De Vaan traces that verb to Proto-Italic *ed- (“to eat”) and Proto-Indo-European *h1éd-mi (“to eat”), and explains the long vowel of the participle by Lachmann's law, from a sequence /dt/.^[6] The prefix goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sēm-i (“in one”), a locative whose meaning shifted from “in one” to “one of the two” and then to “half”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Georges cites it from a tragedy of Pacuvius quoted by Cicero, of half-eaten remains (reliquiae);^[3] Köbler's first source is Cicero.^[7] Lewis and Short, who do not list that fragment, call the word not earlier than Augustus.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means half-eaten or partly eaten.^[4][2] Virgil uses it of prey and of bones, Horace of fish and of scraps of bacon, Ovid of snakes and Juvenal of a hare.^[2][3] Suetonius has semesa obsonia, dishes already started, leftovers from the table;^[8][2] Petronius uses it of the bodies of children and Florus of food.^[2]

In British medieval Latin it keeps the sense half-eaten and is also used, by extension, of a body or of lips half eaten away by hunger or by leprosy.^[9]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – A line of Pacuvius, quoted by Cicero, uses it of remains.^[3][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of prey and of bones.^[2][3][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace has half-eaten fish and scraps of bacon.^[2][7]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius has semesa obsonia for leftovers.^[8][2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Half-eaten, partly eaten.^[4][2][10]
2. (Medieval Latin) Half eaten away, wasted.^[9]

Related words

• edō¹
• sēmi-

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier