diffusus Latin · revision 33724

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=86/82 BC, Rhetorica ad Herennium|origins=ine-pro *ǵʰu-n-d-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''diffūsus''' (feminine diffūsa, neuter diffūsum, adverb diffūsē); first/second-declension participle^(Wiktionary)

+ The comparative is ''diffūsior''.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|diffundō|t=to pour out, spread]], its participle used as an adjective.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) That verb is made of [[m|la|dis-]] and [[m|la|fundō#1|t=to pour]],^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*χund-]] and [[ine-pro|*ǵʰu-n-d-|t=to pour]];^(de Vaan 2008) cognate with [[grc|χέω|tr=khéō|t=to pour]] and [[sa|जुहोति|tr=juhóti|t=pours, sacrifices]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' speaks of so large and wide-ranging a body of writing.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is spread out over a wide area: Cicero has a plane tree spreading its branches,^(Georges 1913) Manilius stars gliding across the wide sky, Seneca a broad road and Pliny the Elder a wide-bodied sow fattened on acorns.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Of writings and subjects it is wide-ranging: Cicero speaks of civil law, then diffuse and scattered, to be brought into fixed classes,^(Georges 1913) and Suetonius of the vast mass of laws.^(OLD 2012) Of speech it is diffuse or drawn out, as Cicero sets the drawn-out kind of voice against the clipped one.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Church Latin has “wide, extensive, spread out”.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|diffuse]] came from it, as a verb in the 1520s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 86/82 BC – The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'', of a wide body of writing.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a spreading plane tree and of diffuse speech.^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Manilius, of the wide sky.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, of the mass of laws.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1520s – English [[m|en|diffuse]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Spread over a wide area, [[m|en|spreading]], broad.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of writings or subjects, covering a wide field, [[m|en|extensive]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # Of speech or writing, [[m|en|diffuse]], drawn out.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[diffundō]]

+ * [[fundō#1]]

+ * [[diffūsiō]]

+ * [[en|diffuse]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}