Etymologically
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valesco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [waˈɫeːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [vaˈlɛs.ko][1]

Forms

valēscō (present infinitive valēscere, perfect active valuī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin valeō (“to be strong, be well”) + -ēscō, an inchoative.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces valeō to Proto-Italic *wal-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *h2ulh1-eh1- (“to be strong”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Lucretius,[2][3] who writes of children drinking the bitter juice of wormwood, deceived but not harmed, and rather restored so that they grow well: recreata valescat.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to become sound in health, to grow strong,[2][3] and more widely to become powerful or gain ascendancy:[2] Tacitus says that as the Germans grew stronger most of the states took up arms against Rome, and that crimes grow strong by haste and good plans by delay.[2][3] Lewis & Short call it rare and note that Cicero does not use it.[3] Ambrose uses it of the juice by which the whole body grows strong.[3] In Church Latin it is to grow strong.[5]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of a child restored to health.[2][3][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of the Germans growing powerful.[2][6]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose, of the body growing strong.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To grow strong, acquire strength; to become sound in health.[2][3][1]
  2. To become powerful, gain ascendancy, prevail.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de