Etymologically
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sicco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsɪk.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsik.ko][1]

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

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