undosus

Forms

undōsus (feminine undōsa, neuter undōsum, comparative undōsior, superlative undōsissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin unda (“wave”) + -ōsus.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Virgil is the first to use it, in the Aeneid, of the sea full of waves.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a poetic word, used of the sea, of the realms of the sea-nymphs, and of coastal places such as Plemyrium in Virgil.^[2][4] Statius and Silius Italicus have it,^[2] Solinus uses the comparative and Augustine the superlative,^[4] and Ammianus Marcellinus the comparative of the adverb undōsē “in waves”.^[4]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Aeneid.^[2][3]
• 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus uses it of the realms of the sea.^[2][3]
• first half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses the comparative.^[4][3]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses the superlative of torrents.^[4][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of waves, surging, billowy.^[2][4]
2. (of places) Washed by waves, lying by the sea.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press