vescus

Forms

vēscus (feminine vēsca, neuter vēscum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2] The OLD and Wiktionary take it as perhaps from Latin vēscor (“to feed on”), a back-formation,^[3][1] and Georges also calls it related to that verb.^[4] De Vaan doubts this, since the meanings can be linked only through a complicated chain of shifts, and suggests instead a compound of the prefix vē- (“un-, under-, over-”) (as in vēsānus and vēgrandis) with *ēsko- (“nourishing”) or *ēskā- (“food”).^[2] Gellius already noted that the particle ⟨vē-⟩ can both increase and diminish, so that this adjective could be taken both ways.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author is Lucilius,^[5][3] who speaks of living a fastidious and meagre life, quam fastīdiōsum ac vēscum vīvere.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense was thin, poor or meagre:^[3][6] Virgil uses it of thin willow leaves and of poppy seed,^[3] Ovid says farmers called spelt that grew poorly vēsca,^[3] and Pliny the Elder speaks of a man of slight body but great strength.^[3] Afranius uses it of a boy's weak strength, and Gellius of short exhortations too slight to feed zeal.^[3][4]

Paulus' abridgement of Festus explains Lucretius' vēscō sale, said of salt water that wears away rocks, as “devouring”; the OLD thinks this may be a misunderstanding, while Georges takes the active sense “consuming” for Lucretius and for Virgil's poppy.^[3][4] A glossary renders it with Greek words for eating little.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius speaks of a meagre life.^[3][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of brine eating away rocks.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of thin leaves and poppy.^[3][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid reports it as a farmers' word for poorly grown spelt.^[3][5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius discusses its double sense.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Thin, small, weak, meagre.^[3][6]
2. (of a way of life) Poor, scanty.^[6][4]
3. Devouring, consuming (so Festus for Lucretius' vēscō sale).^[3][4]

Related words

• vēscor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press