uvidus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈuː.wɪ.dʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈuː.vi.dus]^[1]

Forms

ūvidus (feminine ūvida, neuter ūvidum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Possible cognates are Ancient Greek ὑγρός (hugrós, “wet”) and Old Norse vǫkr (“wet”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *wegʷ- (“wet”).^[2][1][3] The OLD derives it from ūvēscō (“to become wet”) with the suffix -idus, but de Vaan thinks ūvor (“moisture”) and the verb were formed from the adjective.^[4][2] The order of attestation suggests that ūdus “wet” is a later contraction of it, though Weiss considers ūdus older and ūvidus a hyperarchaism.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who uses it of a wet net and wet clothes.^[2][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant wet, soaked, dripping, mostly in poetry and post-Augustan prose, as in Virgil and Horace.^[4][5][6] In Horace it also meant moistened with wine, tipsy, as dīcimus ūvidī “we say it when we have drunk”.^[4] Döderlein groups it with ūdus as wetness of water or another fluid.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a wet net.^[5][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it.^[6][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of being tipsy.^[4][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Wet, soaked, dripping.^[4]
2. Moistened with drink, tipsy.^[4]

Word family

• ūdus

Related words

• ūmidus

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper