squamosus

Forms

squāmōsus (feminine squāmōsa, neuter squāmōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Plautus spells it squāmossus,^[2][3] and the medieval spelling scamōsus also occurs.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is from Latin squāma (“scale of a fish or reptile”) + -ōsus, “full of scales”.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists the base among the derivatives of squālus (“rough, filthy”), a family for which he finds no etymology; because of the sequence ⟨squ-⟩ he thinks it is probably not an inherited word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first recorded use is in Plautus,^[6][4] who calls fish squāmōsum pecus, “the scaly flock”, and has a character ask whether he usually eats scaly birds.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it describes fish and snakes covered with scales: Cicero in verse has fish with scaly bodies, Virgil a scaly serpent, Ovid the scaly coils of a snake, and Columella shoals of fish.^[3][8] Pliny the Elder applies it to minerals with a scaly texture, such as two kinds of arrhenicum and an emerald from Chalcedon.^[2][3] It was also used of anything with a dry, cracked or scurfy surface: Lucan of tongues stiff with thirst, Gellius of bodies crusted with dirt, Celsus of a scaly skin disease.^[2][7]

In Late Latin, Prudentius calls a coat of scale armour a thōrāx squāmōsus.^[3][8][4] Medieval writers in Britain such as Aldhelm and Bede kept it for snakes and fish and used it of scaly growths on the body.^[5] English borrowed it in the 1540s as squamous.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls fish the “scaly flock”.^[2][3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a serpent.^[3][8][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of minerals.^[2][4]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of scale armour.^[3][4]
• 1st third of the 8th century AD – Bede uses it of fish.^[5][4]
• 1540s – English borrows it as squamous.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Covered with scales, scaly, squamous.^[2][3]
2. (of minerals) Scaly in texture.^[2]
3. Having a dry, cracked or scurfy surface (from thirst, dirt or disease).^[2][7]
4. (Late Latin) Made of scales: thōrāx squāmōsus, scale armour.^[3][4]

Related words

• squāmeus
• squālus
• English squamous

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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com