Etymologically
Log in

sinuosus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 14:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɪ.nuˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [si.nuˈɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

sinuōsus (feminine sinuōsa, neuter sinuōsum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sinus (“curve, fold”) + -ōsus (“full of”).[2][3][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *sinu- for sinus and connects it, probably, with Albanian gji (“breast”); beyond that he finds no etymology.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Virgil,[5] who writes in the Georgics of a snake gliding away flexu sinuoso, “in a winding coil”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short describe it as poetic and post-Augustan.[3] Its core sense is full of bends, curves or folds: the coils of a snake in Virgil, a bent bow in Ovid, the windings of the Maeander in Pliny the Elder, who also uses it of crenate leaves.[2][3] Propertius and Ovid apply it to billowing awnings and garments full of folds.[2][3][6] Of style, Quintilian uses it for a narrative that is involved and full of digressions, and Gellius for a long-winded question.[2][3][6] Persius has sinuoso in pectore, “in the recesses of the heart”.[3] Medieval writers in Britain use it for winding and twisting movements, and an Old English glossary explains it as “embracing, enveloping”.[7] English took it over as sinuous in the 1570s.[8]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a snake's winding coil.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has it of a curved bow.[2][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the windings of the Maeander and of crenate leaves.[2][3]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian applies it to a tortuous narrative.[2][3]
  • 1570s – English borrows it as sinuous.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Bent, bowed, arched.[2]
  2. Winding, full of curves, sinuous; of rivers and coasts, winding; of leaves, crenate.[2][3]
  3. Full of folds or recesses.[2][3]
  4. Of style, tortuous, involved, full of digressions.[2][3]

Usage notes

Lewis and Short give tortuōsus as a synonym.[3] The adverb sinuōsē, “in a roundabout way”, occurs in Gellius in the comparative sinuōsius.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com