plumbeus Latin · revision 33354

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la plumbum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpɫʊm.be.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈplum.be.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''plumbeus''' (feminine plumbea, neuter plumbeum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|plumbum|-eus|t1=lead]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The origin of [[m|la|plumbum]] is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan, following Beekes, rejects a link with [[grc|μόλιβδος|tr=mólibdos|t=lead]] and sets it rather beside the Celtic word seen in [[sga|lúaide|t=lead]]; since that cannot account for the Latin form, he thinks the word for lead may be a loan from another language, and mentions a Berber word for lead that may have the same source.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who uses it figuratively: ''si quid peccatumst, plumbeas iras gerunt'', “if you do wrong, their anger is like lead”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is made of lead: Cato has a leaden cauldron and leaden vessels, Lucretius the leaden sling-shot that grows hot in flight, and Tacitus the name of Germanicus engraved on lead tablets.^(OLD 2012) Plautus and Martial speak of base leaden coins, and Pliny the Elder of a leaden colour of the body.^(OLD 2012) Because lead is soft and blunt, Cicero speaks of being killed with a leaden sword and exclaims ''o plumbeum pugionem!'', “what a leaden dagger!”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ From the qualities of lead it came to mean heavy and oppressive, as Horace's leaden south wind; cheap and worthless, as Martial's leaden wine; and dull or stupid, as Terence's ''asinus plumbeus'', Cicero's “we are dull in natural science”, and Suetonius' man with a face of iron and a heart of lead.^(OLD 2012) Prudentius has blows from a scourge weighted with lead.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of leaden coins and of heavy anger.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato, of a leaden cauldron.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence, of a dull fool.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a blunt dagger and of dullness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace, of the oppressive south wind.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Made of [[m|en|lead]], leaden.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of lead colour.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|blunt|alt=Blunt]], ineffective.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Heavy, [[m|en|oppressive]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Cheap, worthless.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|dull|alt=Dull]], [[m|en|stupid]], insensitive.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(as a noun, masculine)'' A leaden coin;^(OLD 2012) ''(neuter)'' a leaden vessel.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[plumbāgō]]

+ * [[plumbārius]]

+ * [[plumbātūra]]

+ * [[plumbō]]

+ * [[plumbōsus]]

+ * [[plumbum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}