silentiosus

Forms

silentiōsus (feminine silentiōsa, neuter silentiōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin silentium (“silence”) + -ōsus,^[1][2] and so goes back to sileō (“to be silent”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Apuleius, at the start of the eleventh book of the Metamorphoses: opācae noctis silentiōsa sēcrēta, “the silent solitude of the dark night”.^[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

It always meant “full of silence”, quite still.^[2][6] Cassiodorus uses it,^[6] and also the adverb silentiōsē, “silently”.^[4] The Renaissance commentator Beroaldo explained Apuleius's word as “full of silences”, formed like fācundiōsus and religiōsus.^[7]

Wiktionary also gives the sense “quiet, taciturn” of a person.^[1] It was taken into the Romance languages as a learned word: Italian silenzioso, French silencieux, Portuguese silencioso, and also English silentious.^[1][5]

Timeline

• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius writes of the silent solitude of the night.^[4][3]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses the adjective and the adverb silentiōsē.^[4][6][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of silence, perfectly still, noiseless.^[2][4][6]
2. Quiet, taciturn.^[1]

Related words

• silentium
• sileō
• silēns

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de