venetus

Forms

venetus (feminine veneta, neuter venetum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is apparently from Latin Venetī (“the Veneti, a people at the head of the Adriatic”),^[2][1] the people whose name also gave the adjective ⟨Venetus⟩ “of the Veneti”.^[2] Wiktionary suggests that the colour may have been named after the Venetian lagoon, and notes that at first it meant only the colour worn by one of the circus factions.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Martial, in the late 1st century AD, uses venetus for a driver of the Blue faction in the circus.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant sea-blue, a light blue,^[2][6] above all as the colour of one of the four racing factions of the circus, the factio veneta (beside the white, red and green ones);^[6][4] the masculine or neuter used as a noun meant the Blue faction or one of its drivers.^[2][3] Juvenal speaks of a blue hood,^[6][7] Vegetius of blue colour and clothing,^[6][3] and Isidore of Seville has the neuter venetum for a bluish pigment.^[6][3]

In Medieval Latin the ethnic adjective came to mean Venetian, of Venice,^[1][8] and the colour was called Venetus color, the blue of Venice.^[9]

Timeline

• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a driver of the Blue faction.^[3][4][5]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal speaks of a blue hood.^[6][7]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius names the factio veneta in his life of Vitellius.^[6][3][4][5]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it of a sea-blue colour.^[6][3]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville has the neuter venetum for a blue pigment.^[6][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Sea-blue, light blue.^[2][6]
2. Of the Blue faction of the circus.^[2][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Venetian, of Venice.^[1]

Noun

1. The Blue faction in the circus; a driver of that faction.^[2][3]
2. (neuter) A bluish colour or pigment.^[6][3]

Related words

• veneticus

Usage notes

The capitalised Venetus is the ethnic adjective “of the Veneti”, found in Propertius and Martial;^[2][3] the OLD keeps it apart from the colour word, which it numbers separately.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 k Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
8. ^ 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
9. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre