crassus Latin · revision 5953

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkras.sʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkras.sus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''crassus''' (feminine crassa, neuter crassum, comparative crassior, superlative crassissimus); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is unknown.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Walde and Hofmann and Pokorny derived it from a root *kert- “to twist”, through “tied together, clenched, thick”, which de Vaan calls gratuitous, and he rejects the comparison with [[crātis]] “wickerwork”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) He notes that it belongs to a group of disparaging adjectives for body shapes, such as [[flaccus]], [[grossus]] and [[gibber]], which have a double consonant, so the older form may have been *crāsus, though this does not explain it.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose slave is to get heavy, thick fetters.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler's first source is Ennius, 204–169 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant thick in section, then of people and animals stout, fat, as Plautus' fat old woman, and in measurements of a given thickness, as in Cato.^(OLD 2012) Of liquids it meant thick, dense, of rivers muddy, of darkness deep, as Cicero's thick shadows.^(OLD 2012) It also meant coarse, rough, heavy, and of people and their minds dull, stupid, crass.^(OLD 2012) It was the cognomen of a branch of the ''gēns Licinia'', as Crassus the orator and Crassus the triumvir.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it meant fat, and of deer in grease.^(DMLBS) It survives, perhaps influenced by [[grossus]], in [[fr|gras]], [[it|grasso]] and [[es|graso]].^(Wiktionary)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of thick fetters.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato gives the thickness of a wall.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of thick shadows.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|Thick]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # (Of people and animals) stout, [[m|en|fat]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # (Of liquids) thick, dense, (of rivers) muddy, (of darkness) deep.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Coarse, rough, heavy.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Dull, stupid, [[m|en|crass]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[crassedo]]

+ * [[crassificō]]

+ * [[crassitās]]

+ * [[crassitiēs]]

+ * [[crassitūdō]]

+ * [[crassiuēnius]]

+ * [[crassō]]

+ * [[percrassus]]

+ * [[praecrassus]]

+ * [[crassē]]

+ * [[crassēscō]]

+ * [[crassundia]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[crassāmen]]

+ * [[crassāmentum]]

+ * [[crassificātiō]]

+ * [[grossus]]

+ * [[en|crass]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}