veternosus

Forms

veternōsus (feminine veternōsa, neuter veternōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin veternus (“lethargy, torpor”) + -ōsus.^[2][1] The noun veternus is formed from vetus (“old”) (stem ⟨veter-⟩),^[1][3] which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *uet-os- (“year”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence is the first author:^[2] in the Eunuchus a man is described as viētus vetus veternōsus senex, “a withered, aged, drowsy old man”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In medicine it meant suffering from lethargy, a morbid torpor; as a noun, one who suffers from it.^[2] Cato, in a speech, compares a man who cannot stop talking to a lethargic one who cannot stop drinking and sleeping,^[2] and Festus explains that Cato meant a man with dropsy, who thirsts the more he drinks.^[2] Pliny the Elder prescribes sharp radishes for the lethargic.^[2][5]

From Seneca on it was used figuratively of a sluggish, listless mind,^[2][5] and Seneca has a superlative of the idlest subtleties of logic.^[2][4] An African inscription uses it of the dirt of age or neglect.^[2] Later it was applied to waters by Arnobius, to a style of speaking by Sidonius and to habit by Augustine.^[4] Ecclesiastical Latin used it for dull or lethargic,^[6] and Medieval Latin for old, ancient or inveterate.^[7]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a drowsy old man.^[2][8]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in a speech of a lethargic man who keeps drinking.^[2][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a listless mind.^[2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder recommends radishes for lethargic patients.^[2][8]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it.^[8]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius applies it to waters.^[4][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (medicine) Afflicted with morbid torpor, lethargic (sometimes identified with dropsy); (as a noun) one so afflicted.^[2][5]
2. Sleepy, drowsy, dreamy.^[5][4]
3. (figurative) Languid, spiritless, sluggish.^[5][4]
4. Marked by the dirt of age or neglect.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) Old, ancient; inveterate.^[7]

Related words

• veternus
• vetus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de