gracilis Latin · revision 32042

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=190–159 BC, Terence}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɡra.kɪ.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɡraː.t͡ʃi.lis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''gracilis''' (neuter gracile, comparative gracilior, superlative gracillimus, adverb graciliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ Early Latin also has a second-declension form ''gracilus'', ''-a'', ''-um'' (Terence's ''gracilae'', Lucilius).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) The adjective is related to [[cracēns|t=slender]], which survives only in Paulus' abridgement of Festus and may be the original form, with its first consonant later changed to /g/.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) A preform ⟨*krakilis⟩ would continue [[ine-pro|*kr̥ḱ-]] and be cognate with [[sa|कृश|tr=kṛśá-|t=lean, meagre]], [[ae|kərəsa-|t=lean]], [[non|horr|t=leanness]] and [[lt|karšė́ti|t=to grow old]], but de Vaan objects that ⟨*kr̥ḱ-i-⟩ should have given Latin ⟨corci-⟩ and that the change of the consonant is unexplained.^(de Vaan 2008) He also mentions a possible Umbrian cognate, an epithet of the moon meaning “waning”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Terence,^(de Vaan 2008) whose ''Eunuchus'' tells of mothers who make their daughters keep their shoulders down so that they stay slim.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means slender, slight or thin, of people, animals and limbs, in a good or a bad sense, and of things fine or narrow, as Virgil's basket woven of slender marsh-mallow and Ovid's ants on a narrow path.^(OLD 2012) Of soil and substances it is thin or light, and of crops scanty, as in Pliny the Younger's “a meagre vintage”.^(OLD 2012) Of poetry it is modest or unambitious, and of style plain and unadorned, as in Quintilian's third kind of style between the plain and the forceful.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Leumann holds that the derivative [[gracilentus]] was made as the opposite of [[corpulentus]].^(de Vaan 2008) Church Latin glosses it “slender, graceful”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of slim girls.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of a slender basket.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of the plain style.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1620s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|gracile]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|slender|alt=Slender]], slim, thin; lean.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Fine, slight; [[m|en|narrow]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Thin, light; scanty, [[m|en|meagre]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of poetry, modest; of style, simple, plain, unadorned.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[gracilentus]]

+ * [[gracilesco]]

+ * [[gracilipēs]]

+ * [[gracilitās]]

+ * [[gracilitūdō]]

+ * [[pergracilis]]

+ * [[praegracilis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gracilēns]]

+ * [[graciliter]]

+ * [[en|gracile]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Etymonline notes that English ''gracile'' has nothing to do with ''grace'', though it is often taken to.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}