delicate Latin · revision 34658

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1st century BC, Varro and Cicero|origins=la dēliciae}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēlicātē''' (comparative dēlicātius, superlative dēlicātissimē)^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is an adverb, [[der|la|dēlicātus|t=delightful, luxurious]], formed with [[m|la|-ē]].^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) VOLI derives it more directly from [[m|la|dēliciae|t=delights]], the noun from which the adjective is made.^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler first records it in Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) and the OLD's earliest citations are Varro, writing of a place where one might dine in comfort (''ubi dēlicātē cēnitāret''), and Cicero, who has ''recubāns molliter et dēlicātē'' “reclining softly and luxuriously”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is in a way pleasant to the senses: [[m|en|luxuriously]], comfortably, without exertion.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Seneca uses the comparative of handling an angry mind more gently,^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) and Suetonius, in the life of Caligula, of a journey made so lazily that he was carried in a litter with eight bearers.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) It could also mean frivolously or wantonly: Cicero writes of someone travelling about not only frivolously but foolishly, and Nepos of Alcibiades doing many things playfully and wantonly.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Seneca says a benefit should be received neither fastidiously (''dēlicātē'') nor servilely,^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) and Pliny the Elder uses the comparative of beans broken more finely.^(OLD 2012) In medieval British Latin it keeps the sense of delicately and luxuriously, as when Walter Map writes of a king who lived most luxuriously on costly food.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of dining in comfort.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of reclining luxuriously and of travelling frivolously.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of gentle handling and of receiving a benefit fastidiously.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses the comparative of beans broken finely.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a leisurely journey.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # In a way pleasant to the senses, [[m|en|luxuriously]], comfortably; without exertion, gently.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # With care not to disturb, gently, [[m|en|considerately]].^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # [[m|en|frivolously|alt=Frivolously]], wantonly.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis 1890)

+ # [[m|en|fastidiously|alt=Fastidiously]].^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(of consistency)'' Finely.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}