spumeus

Forms

spūmeus (feminine spūmea, neuter spūmeum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin spūma (“foam”) + -eus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives spūma from Proto-Italic *spoimā- (“foam”) and Proto-Indo-European *spoHi-m- (“foam”), a derivative in ⟨-m-⟩ beside the ⟨-n-⟩ forms of other languages.^[4] It is cognate with Sanskrit फेन (phéna-, “foam”), Lithuanian spáinė (“foam”), Old English fām (“foam”) and Old High German feim (“foam”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Virgil,^[5] whose Nereus rages, foaming, with his trident: saevit tridentī spūmeus … Nēreus.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.^[7] Virgil uses it of rivers, waves and rocks covered with spray, Ovid of a torrent, Lucan of a madness foaming at the mouth, and Phaedrus and Apuleius of a boar foaming at the jaws.^[2][7][6] Pliny the Elder uses it of juices and seeds that look like foam and of salt made from sea foam,^[2] and Palladius of a whitish colour.^[8][9] Medieval writers in Britain also use it of a foaming horse and, figuratively, of frothy, bombastic speech.^[10]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of Nereus and the foaming sea.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a torrent.^[2][7][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of foam-like juices and of salt made from foam.^[2][5]
• end of 4th/beginning of 5th century AD – Palladius uses it of a whitish colour.^[8][9][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Foaming, frothy, covered with foam.^[2][7][8]
2. Like foam in appearance; whitish.^[2][8][6]
3. Made of foam.^[2][6]
4. (Medieval Latin, figurative) Of speech: frothy, bombastic.^[10]

Related words

• spūma
• spūmō
• English foam

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b 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 d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b 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