aspero Latin · revision 36837

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la asper}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈas.pɛ.roː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈas.pe.ro]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''asperō''' (present infinitive asperāre, perfect active asperāvī, supine asperātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|asper|-ō|t1=rough]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The origin of [[m|la|asper]] is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan finds the old derivation from a compound meaning “rejecting” gratuitous, and reports Melchert's root [[ine-pro|*h₂esp-|t=to cut]], which Melchert sees in [[xlu|hašp-|t=to cut down]] and [[grc|ἀσπίς|tr=aspís|t=shield]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Varro is the first author.^(TLL) In his book on farming a threshing board is made of a plank roughened with stones or iron, ''lapidibus aut ferrō asperāta''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant to make a surface rough, and so to make it sharp or pointed.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Lewis and Short note that it is very frequent in the poets and in Tacitus but not found in Cicero,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and the TLL adds the medical writers.^(TLL) Virgil has winter roughening the waves with its north winds,^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) and Tacitus a dagger sharpened on a stone.^(Conte 2010)^(Georges 1913) Of sound and style it meant to make harsh: Quintilian speaks of words moved to the end of a clause only to roughen the composition.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Figuratively it meant to make fierce or violent, to exasperate, and to make worse: Tacitus has soldiers made savage by the fighting and charges made heavier,^(Conte 2010)^(Georges 1913) Statius divine anger made fiercer.^(OLD 2012) Prudentius uses it of making pleasures bitter to the taste,^(Georges 1913) and Sidonius has the syncopated participle ''asprātus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) In Medieval Latin Ado of Vienne uses it of leprosy disfiguring a body.^(MLW)

+

+ English took ''asperate'' “make rough” from its participle in the 1650s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a threshing board roughened with stones or iron.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of winter roughening the sea.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of making anger fiercer.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of making style harsh.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of sharpening a dagger and of soldiers made savage.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1650s – English borrows the participle as ''asperate''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make [[m|en|rough]], roughen;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''(passive)'' to become rough.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To make (the sea) rough or stormy.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # To make sharp or pointed, [[m|en|sharpen]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # To [[m|en|grate]] on (the ears).^(OLD 2012)

+ # To make harsh (in style).^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # To make fierce or violent, [[m|en|enrage]], [[m|en|exasperate]].^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # To make terrible in appearance.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To make worse, [[m|en|aggravate]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' To [[m|en|disfigure]].^(MLW)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[aspratilis]]

+ * [[exasperō]]

+ * [[asperātus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[asper]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}