spatiosus

Forms

spatiōsus (feminine spatiōsa, neuter spatiōsum, comparative spatiōsior); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin spatium (“space, room”) + -ōsus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds no secure etymology for spatium: a participle meaning “fattened, extended” is possible but cannot be confirmed, and a link with pateō (“to be open”) is difficult.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the Moretum,^[5] which describes a woman's broad, spreading foot.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means covering a wide area, extensive, ample or roomy, and with measurements wide, as Columella's spaces between rows not wider than ten feet.^[2][6] Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic and post-Augustan and is not found in Cicero.^[6] Vitruvius uses it with nouns of size, Pliny the Younger of an expansive piece of writing, and Seneca's tragedy of Chiron lying in his cave with his great bulk.^[2] Of time it means long or protracted, as Ovid's advice never to give anger long time, and of vowels long.^[2] Church Latin glosses it spacious, broad, long, large.^[7] English borrowed spacious in the late 14th century, partly through Old French.^[3]

Timeline

• 2nd half of the 1st century BC – The Moretum of a broad foot.^[2][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of things of great size.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a long time.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella of the width between rows.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as spacious.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Covering a wide area, extensive, ample, spacious, roomy; wide.^[2][6][7][1]
2. Of speech or writing, expansive.^[2]
3. Of time, long, protracted; of vowels, long.^[2][1]

Word family

• spatiositas

Related words

• spatium
• English spacious

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c 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