unctus

Forms

ūnctus (feminine ūncta, neuter ūnctum, comparative ūnctior); first/second-declension adjective^[2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin unguō (“to anoint”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan traces unguō to Proto-Italic *ongʷ-e- (“to anoint”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷ-e/o- (“to anoint”), cognate with Umbrian umtu (“let him anoint”) and Sanskrit अनक्ति (anákti, “to anoint, smear”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates the verb from Plautus, who also has the comparative diminutive unctiusculus “a little oilier”.^[5] Köbler dates the adjective from Catullus.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is “oiled, greasy”, as the greasy water Horace's host will not serve his guests,^[2] and so stands for rich food: Petronius has a full hand and a rich table, uncta mensa.^[2] Cicero plays on “oiled” and “enriched” in a letter to Atticus.^[2] The neuter ūnctum is a rich dish or banquet and an ointment,^[1][6] and Church Latin has “anointed, smeared”.^[6] Döderlein says that unctus is anointed with a pleasant ointment, beside the general dēlibūtus and oblitus, smeared with something unclean.^[7]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus has the adjective.^[4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of being oiled and enriched.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace, of greasy water.^[2][4]
• before 66 AD – Petronius, of a rich table.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Covered or soaked with oil, oily, greasy;^[2] anointed, smeared.^[2][6]
2. Rich, of food or a table; enriched.^[2]

Noun

1. (neuter, ūnctum) A rich dish, a banquet; an ointment.^[1][6]

Related words

• unguō
• unguentum
• ūnctiō
• ūnctor

Usage notes

A separate fourth-declension noun ūnctus, -ūs, formed from the same verb, means “anointing”;^[2][3][1] Apuleius has oleum unctui, oil for anointing, and Pliny the Elder uses it apparently of a sauce or dressing.^[2][3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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 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 c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper