Etymologically
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silentiosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɪ.ɫɛn.tiˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [si.len.t͡siˈɔː.s̬us][1]

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]

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