decolor Latin · revision 36862

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *ḱel-ōs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈdeː.kɔ.ɫɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.ko.lor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēcolor''' (genitive dēcolōris); third-declension one-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dē-|color|t2=colour]],^(OLD 2012)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014)^(Köbler 2010) though the TLL allows that it may be a back-formation from [[m|la|dēcolōrō|t=to discolour]].^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|color]] to [[itc-pro|*kelōs-|t=outside, aspect]] and [[ine-pro|*ḱel-ōs|t=cover, covering]], with a shift of meaning from “covering” to “colour”.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[goh|hulis]] and perhaps with [[sa|शरस्|tr=śáras-|t=skin on milk]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) whose verse translation of Sophocles in the ''Tusculan Disputations'' has ''dēcolōrem sanguinem'', blood drained of its colour.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means changed from its natural colour, discoloured or stained:^(OLD 2012) Ovid has the Rhine discoloured with its own people's blood, and Pliny the Elder uses it of pitch and of a milky pearl.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Poets apply it to dark-skinned peoples, such as the Indians in Propertius and Ovid.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Figuratively it means shameful or degenerate: Virgil's worse and ''dēcolor'' age follows the golden one.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Manuscripts sometimes confuse it with [[discolor]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ Medieval writers keep the senses dark, colourless or pale, and figuratively ugly or worthless;^(MLW) a British gloss explains it as ''dēfōrmis''.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of blood drained of colour.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil calls an age of decline ''dēcolor''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius applies it to a sunburnt Indian.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of pitch and pearls.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Changed from its normal colour, [[m|en|discoloured]], stained.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Dark-skinned, [[m|en|swarthy]] (of peoples).^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Shameful; [[m|en|degenerate]], depraved.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Pale; ugly, worthless.^(MLW)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}