sicco

Forms

siccō (present infinitive siccāre, perfect active siccāvī, supine siccātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is a verb from siccus (“dry”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds the origin of ⟨siccus⟩ uncertain: it is compared with Middle Irish sesc (“dry, barren”) and Avestan hišku- (“dry”), perhaps Proto-Indo-European *si-sk-u- (“dry”), but how that would give ⟨*sikko-⟩ is unclear.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates ⟨siccus⟩ from Cato,^[4] who also has the verb: the olive must be properly ripened and well dried, and, impersonally, “when it has rained and dried up”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to dry, of things and of the weather, and to stanch a wound: Virgil has wounds dried with water and dark blood dried with a robe.^[2] Of waters it is to dry up by heat, as Lucretius' wind and sun, and to drain marshes, as in Cicero.^[2] In medicine it is to rid the body of excess humours.^[2] Horace uses it of draining cups, and Virgil of ewes whose udders are milked dry twice a day.^[2]

Church Latin has it for dry up, make dry.^[5]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of drying olives.^[2][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the sun drying up waters.^[2][3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of draining marshes.^[2][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of draining cups.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dry; to stanch a wound or blood.^[2][3][1][5]
2. To dry up waters; to drain marshes.^[2][1]
3. To desiccate;^[2] (medicine) to rid of excess humours.^[2]
4. To drain a cup, empty; to milk or suck dry; to drink up.^[2][1]

Word family

• assiccō
• dēsiccō
• exsiccō
• insiccātus
• persiccatus
• praesicco
• siccabilis
• siccaneus
• siccātiō
• siccatiuus
• siccatorius
• siccēscō

Related words

• siccus
• siccitās

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 m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
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