Etymologically
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sitis

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈsɪ.tɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsiː.tis][1]

Forms

sitis f sg (genitive sitis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *(k)siti-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰgʷʰí-ti- (“perishing, wasting away”), from the root *dʰgʷʰey- “to perish”.[2][1] De Vaan explains the initial /s/ by a metathesis of *dʰgʷʰ- to *gʷʰdʰ- in pre-Italic, which gave *kþ- and then s-.[2] Cognate with Sanskrit क्षयति (kṣáyati, “perishes”) and Ancient Greek φθίνω (phthínō, “to waste away”).[2] The OLD calls the origin doubtful, and Lewis & Short compare siccus “dry”.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, where an old woman complains that she is parched with thirst.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was thirst, and in medicine abstaining from drink.[3] By transfer it was the dryness of soil and crops, or drought, as when the Dog Star cracks the fields with thirst in Virgil.[3] Figuratively it was a craving, as Cicero's “thirst of desire” and “thirst for liberty”.[6][4]

Medieval writers also used it of dehydration and of spiritual thirst.[7] It survives in Italian sete, French soif, Spanish sed and Portuguese sede.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has an old woman parched with thirst.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of quenching thirst.[6][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of the Dog Star cracking the fields.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Thirst.[3]
  2. Dryness, drought.[3]
  3. (figurative) Craving, desire.[6][4]

Word family

  • sitīcula
  • sitiō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  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