Etymologically
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spatiosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [spa.tiˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [spat.t͡siˈɔː.s̬us][1]

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

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