Etymologically
Log in

villosus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 15:44. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [wɪlˈloː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [vilˈlɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

villōsus (feminine villōsa, neuter villōsum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin villus (“shaggy hair, tuft”) + -ōsus.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Virgil,[3] but Conte also cites a line from a tragedy of Ennius, of a dog “shaggy with snakes” (angue villosi canis).[4]

Semantic evolution

It always meant shaggy or hairy.[2] Virgil uses it of a lion and of Cacus' chest bristling with hair, and Ovid of Cerberus' throats with snakes for hair.[5][4] Pliny the Elder uses it of a root, has the comparative of a tree and the superlative of the hare, the hairiest of animals.[5][6]

In British medieval Latin it was also used in anatomy, of the inner surface of the stomach and the womb, and of shaggy or piled cloth; as a feminine noun it named a shaggy towel, as in a letter of Boniface.[7][8] It survives in Italian villoso.[4]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of a dog shaggy with snakes.[4][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a lion.[5][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Cerberus.[5][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder calls the hare the hairiest of animals.[6][3]
  • 735 – Boniface mentions a villosa for drying the feet of the servants of God.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Shaggy, hairy.[2][5]
  2. (Medieval Latin, anatomy) Villous.[7]
  3. (Medieval Latin) (of cloth) Shaggy, having a pile.[7]

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A shaggy towel.[8][7]

References

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