virido

Forms

viridō (present infinitive viridāre, perfect active viridāvī, supine viridātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin viridis + -ō, from the adjective for “green”.^[2][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of vireō “to be green”, whose further origin he considers uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in a tragedy of Accius,^[4][2] in the present participle, of Cithaeron putting out green growth.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Most often it appears as the present participle viridans, “green, verdant”,^[5][2] used of grass, meadows and leaves by Lucretius and Virgil.^[2] It was also said of other green things: gems in Pliny the Elder,^[2] and the crest on the brow of a sea monster in Seneca.^[2] The transitive sense, “to make green”, is rarer; the Halieutica has the passive, of shallows turning green with weed.^[2][5]

Conte also records a figurative use, “to be splendid”, in Claudian,^[6] and the word is listed in ecclesiastical Latin as “be green”.^[7]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses the present participle of green growth on Cithaeron.^[2][8]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of grass.^[2][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a sea monster's crest.^[2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of gems.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, usually in the present participle) To be green, verdant.^[2][5]
2. (of other things) To be green in colour.^[2]
3. (transitive) To make green; in the passive, to become green.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de