meticulosus Latin · revision 4192

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la metus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [mɛ.tɪ.kʊˈɫoː.sʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [me.ti.kuˈlɔː.s̬us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''meticulōsus''' (feminine meticulōsa, neuter meticulōsum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is from [[metus]] “fear” with the suffix [[m|la|-culōsus]], taken from [[periculosus|alt=perīculōsus]] “dangerous”.^(Wiktionary) The OLD lists it under the older form [[metuculosus|alt=metūculōsus]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Etymonline calls ''metus'' of unknown origin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus, in the Amphitryon, says nobody is as fearful as this man, and in the Mostellaria asks whether one knows how frightful a thing it is to go before a judge.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Köbler dates Plautus about 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant full of fear, both fearful or timid and frightful or terrible, and Lewis & Short call it ante- and post-classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) After Plautus it is found in the jurist Ulpian of a timid man, in Lactantius, and in Apuleius of the timid hare.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Medieval British sources used it of what is timorous or terrified, as a fearful hesitation in William of Malmesbury, and as a noun for a frightened man.^(DMLBS) English ''meticulous'' is recorded in the 1530s in the sense “fearful, timid”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in both senses.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a timid man.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of the hare.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1530s – English ''meticulous'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|fearful]], [[m|en|timid]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Frightful, terrible.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[metus]]

+ * [[en|meticulous]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}