torvus

Forms

torvus (feminine torva, neuter torvum, adverb torviter); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *torgʷo-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *torgʷ-o- (“grim, angry”).^[2] Cognate with Hittite tarkuu̯ant- (“looking angrily”), Sanskrit तर्जति (tarjati, “to threaten”) and Ancient Greek ταρβέω (tarbéō, “to be startled”).^[2][1] Walde–Hofmann connect it with trux (“savage”), which de Vaan finds difficult in form;^[2] the OLD mentions that link as possible and compares Old High German drouwen (“to threaten”) and Old English þrēan (“to rebuke, threaten”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Pacuvius,^[2] where a man is described as “of fierce temper, grim”;^[3][4] Köbler gives Ennius.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is used first of persons, grim or pitiless, then of animals, as Virgil's grim lioness.^[3] Lewis and Short take the original sense to be of the eyes, staring or piercing, and it is common of looks and faces, as Virgil's single eye under a grim brow; the neuter is used adverbially with verbs of looking, “to glare”.^[5][3] It is also said of actions and of inanimate things that are dreadful in aspect, as Seneca's grim waters, and in Pliny the Elder of a harsh taste.^[3]

Lewis and Short call it poetic and post-Augustan in prose.^[5]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of a grim man and of fierce confidence.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a lioness, a grim eye and a fierce glance.^[3][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of grim waters.^[3][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a harsh taste.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of persons or animals, grim, pitiless.^[3][1]
2. Of looks, fierce, stern, glaring.^[3][5]
3. Of actions, grim, fierce, savage.^[3][1]
4. Of things, dreadful; harsh in taste.^[3]

Related words

• trux

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press