putor Latin · revision 36925

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *puH-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pūtor''' ''m'' (genitive pūtōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|pūteō|-or|t1=to rot, stink]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan thinks that [[m|la|pūteō]] and its family are probably based on an old past participle [[itc-pro|*pūto-|t=rotten]], [[ine-pro|*puH-to-]], of the root that also gives [[m|la|pūs|t=pus]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[sa|पूयति|tr=pū́yati|t=to rot, stink]], [[grc|πύθομαι|tr=púthomai|t=to rot, decay]] and [[lt|pū́ti|t=to rot, decay]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cato, its first author, writes that cabbage will take away all rottenness, ''brassica omnem pūtōrem adimet''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant rottenness, usually with the foul smell that goes with it, and also the sodden, mucky state of soil.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Varro explains the name of Puteoli by the stench of the place, which often reeked of sulphur and alum,^(OLD 2012) and Lucretius uses it of earth soaked by rain, in which worms are born.^(TLL) Lewis and Short call it ante- and post-classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The TLL finds it once each in Cato, Varro and Pliny the Elder, more often from Arnobius on, and fifteen times in Augustine; in verse only Lucretius has it.^(TLL) Manuscripts often confuse it with [[pudor]].^(TLL)

+

+ In British Medieval Latin Aldhelm and William of Malmesbury use it of a stench, of sewers and of unburied corpses.^(DMLBS) It lives on in [[ro|putoare]] and [[ca|pudor]].^(Wiktionary)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato says that cabbage takes away rottenness.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro explains the name of Puteoli by its stench.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of rain-soaked earth.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of a body decaying.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it fifteen times.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|rottenness|alt=Rottenness]], [[m|en|putridity]], usually with a foul smell.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Muddiness or sodden state (of soil).^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+ # A foul smell, [[m|en|stench]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pūteō]]

+ * [[pūs]]

+ * [[pūtidus]]

+ * [[puter]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}