sordide Latin · revision 34420

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sordidē''' (comparative ''sordidius'', superlative ''sordidissimē'').^(OLD 2012)

+ The superlative rests on a conjecture in Cicero's speech against Piso.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|sordidus|-ē|t1=dirty, mean]].^(OLD 2012) The adjective is formed from [[m|la|sordēs|t=dirt, filth]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) De Vaan suggests that the noun may go back to [[itc-pro|*swordi-|t=dirt]] and further to [[ine-pro|*suord-o/i-]], to be compared with [[ang|sweart]] and [[goh|swarz]], both meaning “black”; he finds no further Indo-European etymology.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest quotation is from Plautus, of someone who speaks elegantly and not at all vulgarly (''laute et minime sordide'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means in a low or squalid way: Seneca the Elder advises speaking against a girl vehemently but not vulgarly or obscenely, and Tacitus speaks of men born in the lowest condition (''sordidius et abiectius nati'').^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis 1890) Of speech it means in a mean, unpolished style, as when Cicero reports that Lucius Antonius made a poor harangue, and Suetonius of a declaimer who spoke now splendidly, now plainly and meanly.^(OLD 2012)^(Simpson 1959) It also means meanly or stingily: in Cicero a man meanly tells Simonides that he will pay him only half of what was agreed, and Pliny the Younger says that Caecilius Classicus governed his province in a grasping way.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis 1890) The jurist Ulpian uses it of a guardian who acts meanly towards his ward.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of vulgar speech.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of stingy dealing and of a poor speech.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the comparative of low birth.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a living squalidly earned.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # In a low or [[m|en|vulgar]] manner, [[m|en|squalidly]]; of humble birth.^(OLD 2012)^(Simpson 1959)

+ # ''(of speech)'' In a mean, unpolished style.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis 1890)

+ # [[m|en|meanly|alt=Meanly]], [[m|en|stingily]], [[m|en|sordidly]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis 1890)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sordidus]]

+ * [[sordēs]]

+ * [[sordeō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}