nebulosus Latin · revision 36388

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la nebula}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [nɛ.bʊˈɫoː.sʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ne.buˈlɔː.s̬us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nebulōsus''' (feminine nebulōsa, neuter nebulōsum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|nebula|-ōsus|t1=mist, fog|t2=full of]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) De Vaan traces the noun to [[itc-pro|*nefelā-]] and [[ine-pro|*nebh-e-lo-|t=small cloud]]; it is cognate with [[grc|νεφέλη|tr=nephélē|t=cloud]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Cato's treatise on farming,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) which advises what to plant ''ager sī nebulōsus est'', if the land is foggy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Classical writers used it of places, skies and weather subject to mist: Cicero speaks of a foggy, murky sky, Propertius of a misty plain, Seneca of foggy weather as the most windless.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Vitruvius and Pliny the Elder used it of vapour that looks like mist,^(OLD 2012) and Ausonius of nets as fine as clouds.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Gellius applied it figuratively to an obscure name, one whose origin was unclear.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Medieval writers kept both senses,^(DMLBS) from Alcuin's misty exhalation of the waters onwards.^(DMLBS) English took it in the late 14th century as [[m|en|nebulous]], at first “cloudy, misty”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of foggy land.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a foggy sky.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of vapour like mist.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of an obscure name.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 799 – Alcuin writes of the misty exhalation of the waters.^(DMLBS)

+ * late 14th century – English borrows it as ''nebulous''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Full of or subject to [[m|en|mist|alt=mists]], [[m|en|foggy]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Resembling mist, [[m|en|vaporous]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # (of fabric) Fine, cloud-like.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' [[m|en|obscure|alt=Obscure]], hard to understand.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nebulositas]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|nebulous]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}