meracus Latin · revision 36484

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la merus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [mɛˈraː.kʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [meˈraː.kus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''merācus''' (feminine merāca, neuter merācum, superlative merācissimus); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ It has a comparative ''merācior'' and a superlative ''merācissimus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ Manuscripts of medical writers often spell it ''merātus'', apparently a scribal error.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|merus|-ācus]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) formed like [[m|la|ebriacus|t=drunk]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) The adjective [[m|la|merus|alt=merus|t=pure, unmixed]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*mero-]] and [[ine-pro|*merH-o-|t=remaining, pure]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cicero has it first, of [[m|en|wine]] taken less diluted: in ''On the Nature of the Gods'' a doctor knows that a patient told to drink wine will take it too strong.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its proper use is of drinks, above all wine, taken neat or little mixed; the medical writers, from Celsus on, use it often.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace and Persius apply it to undiluted [[m|en|hellebore]],^(Lewis & Short 1879) and figuratively Cicero speaks of a people that drank a liberty too undiluted.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Late writers used it of anything pure, Augustine of the lust for power and Sidonius of a very pure fountain of knowledge.^(Georges 1913) The adverb ''merācē'' is post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of wine and, figuratively, of liberty.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of hellebore.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus prescribes wine more or less undiluted.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris writes of a very pure fountain of knowledge.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|undiluted|alt=Undiluted]], [[m|en|neat]], of wine and other drinks.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Pure, unadulterated, of drugs and other substances.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Unmixed, unrestrained.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[merāculus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The TLL quotes a late grammarian's distinction: ''merum'' is the pure liquid by itself, ''merācum'' something mixed, that is, wine strong but not wholly unmixed.^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}