sordidus

Forms

sordidus (feminine sordida, neuter sordidum, comparative sordidior, superlative sordidissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sordeō (“to be dirty”) + -idus, the verb of sordēs (“dirt”).^[2][1][3][4] De Vaan sets up Proto-Italic *swordi- (“dirt”) or ⟨*swordo-⟩ “dirty”, perhaps from ⟨*sword-⟩ and comparable with Proto-Germanic *swartaz (“black”) (Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌰𐍂𐍄𐍃 (swarts), Old English sweart); he finds no further Indo-European etymology.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.^[3][5] Caecilius has saepe est etiam sub palliolō sordidō sapientia, “wisdom is often found even under a dirty little cloak”, and Ennius vestem squālam et sordidam.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Sordidus is “dirty, grimy, unwashed” (Horace: a dirty napkin), of persons “squalid, neglected”, and of things “dingy, discoloured” (Horace: dirty smoke).^[2][6] From this it means “poor in quality, mean, shabby” (Cicero: a small, shabby villa), “of no account, paltry”, of persons “of low birth, common”, of conduct “degrading, base” (Cicero: it is sordid to haggle over money), and “mean, stingy, avaricious”.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “unclean, defiled, polluted”.^[7] English sordid (early 15th century) was first a medical word for a festering sore.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][5]
• 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius: sub palliolō sordidō.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a shabby villa.^[2][5]
• early 15th century – English sordid.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dirty, filthy, unwashed; squalid.^[2][6][1][7]
2. Dingy, discoloured.^[2]
3. Mean, shabby, poor in quality; paltry.^[2][1]
4. Of low birth, common.^[2]
5. Degrading, base, sordid.^[2][6]
6. Stingy, miserly.^[2]

Word family

• sordido
• sordidulus
• sordidātus

Related words

• sordēs
• sordeō
• English sordid

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson