comatus Latin · revision 35937

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81/79–52/50 BC, Catullus|origins=grc κόμη}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''comātus''' (feminine comāta, neuter comātum); first/second-declension adjective^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|coma|-ātus|t1=hair]],^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) formed like a participle, though no finite verb stands behind it in Classical Latin; the present participle [[comāns]] is its companion.^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The noun is [[bor|grc|κόμη|tr=kómē|t=hair of the head]].^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL records it from Catullus and Cicero on.^(TLL) Catullus already uses it figuratively, of the “leafy forest” that his yacht once was before it became a ship (''comāta silva'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its literal sense is “having long hair”, often as a noun for a long-haired man: Seneca says that having one's hairs plucked is no less annoying to the bald than to the long-haired, and Martial and Suetonius use it of long-haired boys.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Solinus applies it to wolves with a mane.^(TLL) ''Gallia Comāta'', “long-haired Gaul”, was the name of the Gaul beyond the Alps outside the Roman province, as opposed to ''Gallia Togāta'';^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero has it in the ''Philippics'' and Catullus, Mela, Pliny the Elder and Lucan after him.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Medieval Latin used it as a noun for an untonsured man, a layman,^(MLW) and, with ''stella'' or ''sīdus'', for a [[m|en|comet]], as in Roger Bacon.^(MLW)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus calls a forest ''comāta'', “leafy”.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of ''Gallia comāta''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of long-haired people.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * first half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus applies it to maned wolves.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville distinguishes it from [[comōsus]].^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Having long [[m|en|hair]], wearing the hair long; as a noun, a long-haired man.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''Gallia Comāta'': Transalpine [[m|en|Gaul]] outside the Roman province.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(of trees)'' [[m|en|leafy|alt=Leafy]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' As a noun, an untonsured man, a [[m|en|layman]].^(MLW)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' ''stella comāta'': a [[m|en|comet]].^(MLW)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Isidore distinguishes ''comōsus'', said of hair that is cared for, from ''comātus'', said of hair by nature, as in ''Gallia comāta''; a later glossary gives the opposite distinction.^(TLL) Priscian counts it among words that have the form of participles but no tense.^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}