umectus

Forms

ūmectus (feminine ūmecta, neuter ūmectum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled hūmectus, which Lewis & Short call less correct.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ūmeō (“to be wet”) + -tus.^[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of ūmeō and reconstructs Proto-Italic *ūmo- (“wet”) and Proto-Indo-European *uh₁-mo- (“wet”).^[5] The older handbooks derived the stem from an extension of the root of ūvidus (“wet”) and Ancient Greek ὑγρός (hugrós, “wet”); de Vaan finds the formal objections to this weightier than the semantic ones, and follows Weiss in deriving it from an adjective *uh₁-mo-, which Weiss also sees in Lithuanian ū́mas (“quick”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato,^[5] who speaks of damp ground (locus umectus).^[3][6] Pacuvius, quoted by Varro, has the earth breathe out a moist, damp dawn (auroram umidam, umectam).^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it ante- and post-classical, used in place of ūmidus.^[3] Varro and Lucretius use it of damp places and things;^[3] Palladius of the taste of wine and of the quality of a climate;^[3][7] Apuleius has the comparative of clouds, and Macrobius the superlative of the female body.^[3][7] In Theodorus Priscianus the neuter plural is a noun for moist humours.^[7]

British Medieval Latin used it of wet ground and of moistened sponges, and a glossary gives it as a noun for phlegm.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of damp ground.^[3][5][9]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of a moist dawn.^[3][9]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.^[3][9]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius has the comparative of clouds.^[3][9]
• end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century AD – Palladius uses it of wine and climate.^[3][9]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius has the superlative.^[3][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. moist, damp, wet.^[2][3][7]
2. (of air, climate, wine) Moist in nature.^[3][7]
3. (Late Latin, neuter plural as a noun) Moist humours.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin, as a noun, in a glossary) phlegm.^[8]

Word family

• inhumectus
• ūmectō

Related words

• ūmidus
• ūmor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de