rarus Latin · revision 3488

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈraː.rʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈraː.rus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rārus''' (feminine rāra, neuter rārum, comparative rārior, superlative rārissimus or rārissumus, adverb rārō or rārē or rārenter or rāriter); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) It has been connected with [[ine-pro|*h₂erH-|t=to disappear]] and with [[grc|ἐρῆμος|tr=erêmos|t=lonely]], but Schrijver rejects all the proposals, and de Vaan finds none of them obvious.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The TLL takes it from the root of [[reor]] “to count”, as “counted” and so “few”.^(TLL)

+

+ Wiktionary compares [[lt|irti|t=to dissolve]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus onwards,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who says that a lover who comes only on occasional nights is forgotten.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the opposite of [[densus|alt=dēnsus]]: of loose texture, porous, thin, as Lucretius' bodies with gaps between their parts and Virgil's wide-meshed nets.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) It meant spaced thinly, sparse, as Nepos' scattered trees, and spaced in time, infrequent.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ From this it came to mean rare, uncommon, as Cicero's “nothing is rarer than a perfect orator”, and of exquisite quality.^(OLD 2012) English ''rare'' came from it, partly through Old French, in the late 14th century, first meaning “thin, porous”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

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

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of loose structure.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the sense “rare”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – English ''rare'' is recorded in the sense “thin, porous”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of loose structure, porous, thin.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Thinly spaced, [[m|en|sparse]], scattered.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Infrequent, occasional.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Uncommon, [[m|en|rare]], scarce.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Exquisite; unusual.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[disrārō]]

+ * [[perrārus]]

+ * [[rārēfaciō]]

+ * [[rārēfīō]]

+ * [[rārescō]]

+ * [[rāripilus]]

+ * [[rāritās]]

+ * [[rāritūdō]]

+ * [[rāllus]]

+ * [[rārē]]

+ * [[rārenter]]

+ * [[rāriter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|rare]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}