viridis

Forms

viridis (neuter viride, comparative viridior, superlative viridissimus); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] A syncopated form virdis occurs in Lucilius.^[2]

Etymology

It is derived from vireō (“to be green”), irregularly for an expected ⟨*viridus⟩ with the suffix -idus.^[2][1] The etymology of ⟨vireō⟩ is uncertain: de Vaan compares Lithuanian veĩsti (“to breed”), Old English wīse (“sprout, stem”) and Old High German wīsa (“meadow”), from a possible Proto-Italic *weis-, but doubts that these really belong together.^[3] Köbler sets up Pokorny's root Proto-Indo-European *weis- (“to sprout, grow”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Menaechmi, of a man thought to be mad: ut viridis exoritur colōs, “how a greenish colour comes up” on his temples and brow.^[2] De Vaan dates it from Cato, who uses it of green olives and fodder.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Viridis is the colour of growing plants, the most general Latin word for every shade of green: Cicero's fields are nitidissimōs viridissimōsque, “very bright and very green”.^[2][5] It was used of the sea and streams, of precious stones (Lucretius' emerald), and, like Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós), of pale yellowish shades such as a sick complexion.^[2] Of fruit, wood and fodder it means unripe or fresh, not dried (Cato).^[2]

Figuratively it describes youthful vigour: an inscription speaks of a viridis aetās, and the vigour can be that of an old man's green old age.^[2][1] As a neuter plural noun viridia are shrubs planted for greenery.^[2] Church Latin glosses it simply “green”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a greenish complexion.^[2][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of green olives and fresh fodder.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the green light of emeralds.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of green fields.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. green (the colour of growing plants); verdant, grassy.^[2][1][6]
2. Green (in general, of the sea, gems); greenish, pale yellow (of the complexion).^[2]
3. Unripe, young, tender.^[2]
4. Fresh, newly gathered, not dried.^[2]
5. Youthful, vigorous.^[2][1]

Noun

1. (neuter plural) Shrubs or greenery planted for decoration.^[2]

Word family

• viriditās
• viridārium
• viridō
• viridēscō
• viridicātus

Related words

• vireō
• virēscō

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 j k l m n o p q r s 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson