viscosus

Forms

viscōsus (feminine viscōsa, neuter viscōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin viscum + -ōsus, from viscum (“mistletoe; birdlime”).^[1][2] De Vaan takes viscum to be either an Indo-European word or a European loanword for the mistletoe or another fruit-bearing tree.^[3] His tentative reconstruction is Proto-Italic *wisko-.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is the 3rd-century architectural writer Cetius Faventinus.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Prudentius it means smeared with birdlime, in a figurative passage,^[5][6] and Palladius and Theodorus Priscianus use it more generally of sticky, viscous matter, such as a fatty fluid.^[5][7]

Medieval writers on medicine and natural science kept the sense of sticky or glutinous, also figuratively, and speak for example of the viscous substance of the brain.^[2] Conte derives Italian vischioso and viscoso from the Late Latin word,^[8] and English viscous (late 14th century) comes from it partly through Anglo-French.^[9]

Timeline

• 3rd century AD – Cetius Faventinus uses it.^[4]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it figuratively, of something smeared with birdlime.^[5][6][4]
• end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century AD – Palladius uses it of sticky matter.^[5][6][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as viscous.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Smeared with birdlime.^[5][7][8]
2. (Late Latin) Sticky, viscous, glutinous.^[5][7][2]

Related words

• English viscous

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com