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visco

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word visco

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
43 BC–18 AD, Ovid
Ultimate origin
Latin viscum
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin viscum
Latin visco

Forms

viscō (present infinitive viscāre, perfect active viscāvī, supine viscātum); first conjugation[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin viscum (“mistletoe; birdlime”) + -ō.[1][3][4] De Vaan takes viscum as an inherited word or a European loanword for the mistletoe or another fruit-bearing tree, comparing Ancient Greek ἰξός (ixós, “mistletoe; birdlime”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Conte cites it first from Ovid's Ars amatoria.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant to catch or hold fast with birdlime, and also with other sticky substances.[1] Juvenal has it of a husband's lips glued with his wife's face cream (hinc miseri viscantur labra mariti, “from this the poor husband's lips are glued”),[7][3][6] and the physician Theodorus Priscianus of pus that sticks between the joints.[7][3]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it in the Ars amatoria.[6][8]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of lips glued with face cream.[7][3][8]
  • c. 400 AD – Theodorus Priscianus uses it of pus sticking between the joints.[7][3][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To catch or hold fast with birdlime.[1][6]
  2. To smear with something sticky;[1][7][3] (passive) to be glued, stick.[1][7][3]
  • viscātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Visco.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/visco. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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