Etymologically
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squamosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [skʷaːˈmoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [skʷaˈmɔː.s̬us][1]

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]
  • 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