Etymologically
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senesco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɛˈneːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [seˈnɛs.ko][1]

Forms

senēscō (present infinitive senēscere, perfect active senuī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

It is formed from seneō (“to be old”) with the inchoative suffix -scō.[2][1] De Vaan lists it with senex (“old man”), from Proto-Italic *seno- (“old”) and Proto-Indo-European *sen-(o-) (“old”); cognate with Old Irish sen (“old”), Sanskrit सन (sána-, “old”), Ancient Greek ἕνος (hénos, “of last year”) and Lithuanian sẽnas (“old”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,[3] who uses it of lambs that waste away from longing for their mothers.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense, “to grow old”, is less common: Horace advises releasing an ageing horse in time, and has a man growing old in the love of gain.[2][4] Mostly it means to weaken or decay, of people, animals and things, and of activities, feelings and conditions “to die down”: Cicero speaks of praise that was almost fading, and of a state in decline rather than at rest.[2] Of the moon it is “to wane” (Varro), and of armies and resources “to dwindle”, as Nepos says of Athenian power after Sicily.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “grow old, become weak, waste away”.[5]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of lambs pining away and of the waning moon.[2][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of fading praise.[2][6]
  • c. 100–24 BC – Nepos of dwindling power.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of an ageing horse.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To grow old, age.[2][4][1][5]
  2. To weaken, decay, languish.[2][1]
  3. Of feelings and conditions, to die down; of the moon, to wane; of resources, to dwindle.[2][1]

Word family

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 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b 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