undulatus

Forms

undulātus (feminine undulāta, neuter undulātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin unda (“wave”) + -ula + -ātus²,^[2] that is, from an unattested diminutive *undula (“little wave”) with an adjective suffix.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Varro, in a passage quoted by Nonius Marcellus and cited also by Pliny the Elder, of togae undulatae, togas patterned with waves like watered fabrics.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The OLD defines it as having a wavy form, perhaps meaning full and billowing,^[2] while Lewis and Short take it as marked with waves, like watered stuffs.^[3] It remained a rare word;^[5] Stelten lists it in the sense “wavy, undulated”.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro describes togas as undulatae.^[3][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder cites Varro's phrase.^[3][4]
• end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century AD – Nonius Marcellus quotes Varro's use.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a wavy form; perhaps full and billowing.^[2]
2. Marked with wavy lines, like watered fabric; undulated.^[3][5]

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson