vanesco

Forms

vānēscō (present infinitive vānēscere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vānus (“empty”) + -ēscō, an inchoative.^[2][1][3] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *wāno- or ⟨*wā̆sno-⟩ for vānus and compares Sanskrit ऊन (ūná-, “empty”).^[4] Wiktionary compares the parallel development of Proto-Germanic *wanōną, the source of English wane.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation is in Catullus, who asks that grief not be allowed to come to nothing.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to become insubstantial, melt into nothing, vanish, mostly in poetry and post-Augustan prose: Ovid has heavy clouds beginning to vanish, grain turning into barren grass, and a spirit vanishing into thin air, and Tacitus everything turning to ash.^[2][3] Of immaterial things it is to pass into oblivion, as in Ovid's your fault vanishes when balanced by another.^[2] Of actions it is to come to nothing or become of no account.^[2]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of grief coming to nothing.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of clouds and a spirit vanishing.^[2][3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of everything turning to ash.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To vanish, disappear, melt away into nothing.^[2][3][1]
2. Of immaterial things, to pass away, be forgotten.^[2]
3. To come to nothing, become ineffectual.^[2]

Related words

• vānus
• ēvānēscō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de