Etymologically
Log in

siccus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 03:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈsɪk.kʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsik.kus][1]

Forms

siccus (feminine sicca, neuter siccum, comparative siccior); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It may be inherited from Proto-Italic *siskwo-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *si-sk-u- (“dry”), from a root *sek- “to dry up”.[2][1] Cognate with Middle Irish sesc (“dry, barren”), Avestan 𐬵𐬌𐬱𐬐𐬎 (hišku-, “dry”) and Middle Welsh hysp (“dry”), but how this gave the double /kk/ is unclear, so the etymology is uncertain.[2][3] Ernout and Meillet and Pokorny instead connected *seikʷ- “to pour”, as “lacking water”, which de Vaan finds awkward.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato, who says grapes for wine should be gathered ripe and dry.[2][3] Köbler dates it from Plautus.[4] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant dry, free from moisture, as dry hands and dry sand, and of hair not anointed.[3][5] In medicine it described conditions without discharge, as a dry cough, and dryness as a sign of health.[3] Things lacking their natural moisture were dried up, the dry element among the four, dry winds and air, and liquids dried up.[3] Figuratively it meant sober, “dry” of drink, and of style plain and sober, as Cicero's sound and dry orators.[5][6]

Döderlein contrasts siccus, dry outside, with āridus, dried within.[7] It survives in Italian secco, French sec and Spanish seco, and dēsiccāre gave English desiccate in the 1570s.[1][8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[4]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of dry grapes.[3][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of dry sand.[5][4]
  • 1570s – English desiccate is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Dry, free from moisture.[3]
  2. (of hair) Not anointed.[3]
  3. (medicine) Without discharge, dry; healthy.[3]
  4. Dried up, parched, (of winds) dry.[3]
  5. Sober, abstinent.[5][6]
  6. (of style) Plain, sober.[6]

Word family

  • persiccus
  • praesiccus
  • semisiccus
  • siccānus
  • siccarius
  • siccificus
  • siccitās
  • siccō
  • siccoculus
  • siccē
  • assiccescō
  • assiccō
  • dēsiccō
  • exsiccātiō
  • exsiccātus
  • exsiccescō
  • exsiccō
  • insiccābilis
  • insiccātus
  • perexsiccātus
  • āridus
  • English desiccate

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes siccus (dry, without external moisture, opposed to ūmidus), āridus (dried through) and torridus (scorched).[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com