surdus Latin · revision 31474

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈsʊr.dʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈsur.dus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''surdus''' (feminine surda, neuter surdum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008) Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny connect it with [[ine-pro|*swer-|t=to sound, whir]],^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) but de Vaan objects that this leaves the meaning unexplained, since the adjective means “not hearing” or “unheard”.^(de Vaan 2008) The OLD suggests that it stands for [[m|la|*surridus]] and is cognate with [[susurrus|t=a whisper]].^(OLD 2012) De Vaan notes that “deaf” has two sides, “who cannot hear” and “who is not heard”, so that [[absurdus|t=out of tune, absurd]] can be explained as “unheard of” and belongs regularly with it;^(de Vaan 2008) he also floats the idea that the compound came first, meaning “off hearing”, and that the simplex took the sense “not hearing” from it, which he calls very speculative.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) where a woman tells her mistress “you are not deaf, mistress: you heard right”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Besides physically deaf, it is used of places with poor acoustics, as Varro's “deaf theatre”, and of inanimate things that cannot perceive, as Pliny the Elder's earth.^(OLD 2012) It is also unresponsive or unwilling to listen, as Terence's “he tells his tale to a deaf man”, which became proverbial for wasted words, and in poetry of shores and gods deaf to tears and prayers.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016) Passively it is unheard or unheeded, and then muffled, silent or indistinct, as Propertius' “all is silent”, and by extension dull in colour or faint in smell.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Church Latin uses it as a noun, “deaf person”.^(Stelten 1995) In British Medieval Latin it also became an epithet and a byname.^(DMLBS) English ''surd'' comes from it, first used in the 1550s of irrational numbers.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a deaf hearer.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of telling a tale to a deaf man.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of a theatre with poor acoustics.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of silence and of a poem left unheard.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1550s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|surd]], of irrational numbers.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|deaf|alt=Deaf]], unable to hear.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of places, having poor [[m|en|acoustics]]; of things, without perception.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Unresponsive, [[m|en|inattentive]], refusing to listen.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Not listened to, unheeded.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Muffled, silent, noiseless; dull or faint in colour or smell.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' As a noun, a deaf person.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[absurdus]]

+ * [[subsurdus]]

+ * [[surdaster]]

+ * [[surdigo]]

+ * [[surditās]]

+ * [[surditia]]

+ * [[surdō]]

+ * [[exsurdō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[susurrus]]

+ * [[en|surd]]

+ * [[en|absurd]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The proverbial ''surdō narrāre fābulam'', “to tell a story to a deaf man”, is in Terence, and Virgil and Propertius have ''canere surdīs'', “to sing to the deaf”.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}