vesanus
Pronunciation
Forms
vēsānus (feminine vēsāna, neuter vēsānum); first/second-declension adjective[1] It is also spelled vaesānus.[2][3]
Etymology
It is from Latin vē- (“not, badly”) + sānus (“sound, healthy”).[2][1][4] De Vaan traces sānus to Proto-Italic *sāno- and calls Proto-Indo-European *seh₂-no- a purely mechanical reconstruction; he suggests a root meaning to tie, so “in order”, or the root of satis (“enough”).[5]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler dates it from Catullus.[4] Catullus writes of a mad flame that burned his marrow.[2]
Semantic evolution
It is acting without reason or self-control, mad, frenzied.[2] Cicero uses it of a tribune of the plebs and other men, and Horace of a mad poet.[3] Of actions and feelings it is wild: Virgil writes of mad hunger, and Horace of the raging star of the Lion.[2][3] Lewis & Short call it mostly poetic.[3] It is also spelled ⟨vaes-⟩.[2][3]
Timeline
- 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a mad passion.[2][4]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero of a mad tribune.[3][4]
- 70–19 BC – Virgil of mad hunger.[2][4]
- 65–8 BC – Horace of a mad poet and of the raging Lion.[3][4]
Meanings
Adjective
- Of people, mad, insane, frenzied; impetuous.[2][3][1]
- Of actions, feelings and things, wild, furious, raging.[2][3][1]
Word family
- vēsānia
- vēsāniō
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill