desertus Latin · revision 31163

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *ser-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēsertus''' (feminine ''dēserta'', neuter ''dēsertum'', comparative ''dēsertior'', superlative ''dēsertissimus''); first/second-declension adjective^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the past participle of [[m|la|dēserō|t=to abandon]], used as an adjective.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) The verb is formed from [[m|la|dē-|t=away from]] and [[m|la|serō|t=to join, link]], which de Vaan derives from [[itc-pro|*sere-]] and [[ine-pro|*ser-|t=to thread, tie together]], cognate with [[grc|εἴρω|tr=eírō|t=to fasten together]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it from Cato and Terence on;^(TLL) Terence's ''Phormio'' has a woman left “an old woman, deserted, needy, unknown”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is empty of people, deserted or uninhabited, as the epitaph of Plautus, “Comedy mourns, the stage is deserted”, and the neuter plural is the wilderness, as Lucretius' flocks holding “tilled and wild land”.^(OLD 2012) Of persons it is left alone or forsaken, as in Terence, and of circumstances lonely or unattended, as Cicero's “no one's return was ever lonelier”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “deserted, desolate, arid”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of a forsaken woman.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the wilderness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a lonely return.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|deserted|alt=Deserted]], uninhabited;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995) ''(neuter plural as noun)'' unfrequented places, a [[m|en|wilderness]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # (of persons) Forsaken, left alone, lonely.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' [[m|en|desolate|alt=Desolate]], arid.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dēserō]]

+ * [[dēsertor]]

+ * [[serō]]

+ * [[sōlitūdō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''dēserere'' from ''relinquere'': ''relinquere'' is to leave behind what one is merely near, while ''dēserere'' and ''omittere'' are to abandon what one has an inner or moral bond with.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}