vastus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈwaːs.tʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvas.tus]^[1]

Forms

vāstus (feminine vāsta, neuter vāstum, comparative vāstior, superlative vāstissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wāsto-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁u(e)h₂-sto- (“empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty, wasted”).^[2][1] Cognate with Old Irish fás (“empty”), Old High German wuosti (“desolate”) and Old English wēste (“waste”).^[2][3] Some scholars separate a word “huge” from “empty”, but de Vaan notes that the dictionaries do not, and the Oxford Latin Dictionary thinks two roots may have merged.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was first desolate, empty, without people, as Cicero's deserted forum.^[3][5] The sea and other great expanses were dreary, and so it came to mean huge and awe-inspiring, of wild beasts and monsters, and clumsy or ungainly.^[3] Döderlein ranks it with ingēns and immānis, overwhelming greatness.^[6]

In medieval Latin it was deserted, uncultivated, and as a noun waste land.^[7] It survives as Italian vasto, French vaste and Romanian vast.^[1] Through Old North French it gave English waste, and through French vaste English vast.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a deserted forum.^[5][4]
• c. 1200 – English waste is recorded, from Latin vāstus through Old North French.^[8]
• 1570s – English vast is recorded, from French vaste.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Empty, desolate, deserted; waste.^[3][9]
2. Dreary, of great extent.^[3]
3. Vast, huge, awe-inspiring.^[3]
4. Clumsy, ungainly; uncultivated, rough.^[3][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) As a noun, waste land.^[7]

Word family

• vāstitās
• vāstitiēs
• vāstō

Related words

• vānus
• vacō
• English waste
• English vast
• English devastation

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press