Etymologically
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vorax

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈwɔ.raːks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈvɔː.raks][1]

Forms

vorāx (genitive vorācis); third-declension one-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vorō (“to devour”) + -āx (“inclined to”).[2][1][3] De Vaan takes vorō to be probably a verb made from a noun or adjective meaning “food” or “devouring”, comparing Ancient Greek βορά (borá, “fodder”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Accius,[4] who has the “devouring” fire of Vulcan.[2]

Semantic evolution

Varro calls geese voracious by nature, and Cicero asks what Charybdis was ever so ravenous.[2] Catullus uses it of an insatiable adulterer and, obscenely, of a son.[2] Of natural forces it means consuming: fire in Ovid, the sea in Lucan.[2] It was also said of abstract things that eat up resources, such as costly expenses in Valerius Maximus and usury in Lucan.[2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it keeps the sense gluttonous.[6] English formed voracious in the 1630s as the adjective to voracity.[7]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius speaks of the devouring fire of Vulcan.[2][3]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro calls geese voracious.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero compares a man to Charybdis.[2][3]
  • 1630s – English forms voracious as the adjective to voracity.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Ravenous, voracious; insatiable.[2][5]
  2. Of fire, the sea and abstract things, consuming, devouring.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com