sinuosus Latin · revision 34328

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=la sinus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [sɪ.nuˈoː.sʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [si.nuˈɔː.s̬us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sinuōsus''' (feminine sinuōsa, neuter sinuōsum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|sinus|-ōsus|t1=curve, fold|t2=full of]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*sinu-]] for [[m|la|sinus]] and connects it, probably, with [[sq|gji|t=breast]]; beyond that he finds no etymology.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it first in Virgil,^(Köbler 2010) who writes in the ''Georgics'' of a snake gliding away ''flexu sinuoso'', “in a winding coil”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis and Short describe it as poetic and post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Its core sense is full of bends, curves or folds: the coils of a snake in Virgil, a bent bow in Ovid, the windings of the Maeander in Pliny the Elder, who also uses it of crenate leaves.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Propertius and Ovid apply it to billowing awnings and garments full of folds.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Of style, Quintilian uses it for a narrative that is involved and full of digressions, and Gellius for a long-winded question.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Persius has ''sinuoso in pectore'', “in the recesses of the heart”.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Medieval writers in Britain use it for winding and twisting movements, and an Old English glossary explains it as “embracing, enveloping”.^(DMLBS) English took it over as [[m|en|sinuous]] in the 1570s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a snake's winding coil.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has it of a curved bow.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the windings of the Maeander and of crenate leaves.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian applies it to a tortuous narrative.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 1570s – English borrows it as [[m|en|sinuous|alt=sinuous]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|bend|alt=Bent]], bowed, arched.^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|winding|alt=Winding]], full of curves, [[m|en|sinuous]]; of rivers and coasts, winding; of leaves, [[m|en|crenate]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Full of [[m|en|fold|alt=folds]] or recesses.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Of style, [[m|en|tortuous]], involved, full of [[m|en|digression|alt=digressions]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[īnsinuō]]

+ * [[en|sinuous]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Lewis and Short give [[tortuōsus]] as a synonym.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The adverb ''sinuōsē'', “in a roundabout way”, occurs in Gellius in the comparative ''sinuōsius''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}