fossor Latin · revision 35684

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81/79–52/50 BC, Catullus|origins=ine-pro *bʰodʰ-i-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈfɔs.sɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈfɔs.sor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fossor''' ''m'' (genitive fossōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|fodiō|-tor|t1=to dig]], formed on the participle stem ⟨foss-⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|fodiō]] to [[itc-pro|*foþ-i-]] and [[ine-pro|*bʰodʰ-i-|t=to poke, dig]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[hit|padda-i|t=to dig]], [[lt|bèsti|t=to stick, drive in, dig]] and [[lv|best|t=to dig, bury]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler and the TLL record it first in Catullus,^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) who says that the elegant Suffenus, once he writes verse, seems a mere goatherd or ditcher, the ''fossor'' standing for clumsiness and lack of polish.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The plain sense is a man who digs the ground, a delver or ditcher in the fields and vineyards,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) as in Virgil's sturdy digger turning the acres.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Vitruvius and Pliny the Elder use it of miners,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Statius of a sapper undermining walls.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Like Catullus, Persius uses it as a byword for a coarse, uncultivated man.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ In Late Latin, Christian inscriptions use it for a gravedigger,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) the sense it keeps in Ecclesiastical Latin.^(Stelten 1995) Ausonius has it as an obscene term.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010) Medieval writers still used it for a labourer with the spade,^(Niermeyer 1976) and in British sources also for a gravedigger, a sapper and, once, the spade itself.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it as a type of the uncouth.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of miners gathering quicksilver.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a digger working the fields.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of a sapper.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it as an obscene term.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1258 – An account from Wellingborough uses it for a spade.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|digger]], [[m|en|delver]], ditcher.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A clumsy, uncouth person; a [[m|en|boor]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|miner]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''(military)'' a [[m|en|sapper]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' A [[m|en|gravedigger]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A peasant who tills with the [[m|en|spade]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fossōrius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fodicō]]

+ * [[fodīna]]

+ * [[fodiō]]

+ * [[fossa]]

+ * [[fossātum]]

+ * [[fossātus]]

+ * [[fossīcius]]

+ * [[fossilis]]

+ * [[fossiō]]

+ * [[fossō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}