vacuus Latin · revision 6388
16 Oct 2026, 08:04 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la vacō}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈwa.ku.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvaː.ku.us]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''vacuus''' (feminine vacua, neuter vacuum, superlative vacuissimus, adverb vacuē); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[vacō]] “to be empty” with the suffix [[-uus]], from [[itc-pro|*wakowos]].^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Early forms include ⟨vocuus⟩, and Celsus has ⟨vacus⟩.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's first citations are from Plautus, of being free from something, and Lucretius, of emptiness.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant empty, containing nothing, as Caesar's empty camp, and as a noun ''vacuum'' the void, as in Lucretius; of the body it meant hungry, and of things in the underworld insubstantial.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) It meant devoid of, free from, as in Plautus, empty-handed, blank, unobstructed, open, as in Virgil, and legally unencumbered.^(OLD 2012) It meant unoccupied, deserted, undefended, of a bed lonely, and of an office or a woman free, unattached.^(OLD 2012) Of time and persons it meant at leisure, as in Cicero, and of the mind free from cares.^(OLD 2012) Döderlein says [[inānis]] is the emptiness of what was full, ''vacuus'' of what is unoccupied.^(Döderlein 1874)
+
+ In Medieval Latin it meant void, of no effect, and as a noun a vacuum.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS) It survives in Spanish and Portuguese ''vago''.^(Wiktionary) [[en|vacuum]] was borrowed in the 1540s, and [[en|vacuous]] in the 1640s.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of being free from something.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of emptiness and the void.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of leisure.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1540s – English ''vacuum'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # [[m|en|Empty]], ''(neuter as noun)'' the void.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Devoid (of), free (from).^(OLD 2012)
+ # Empty-handed; blank, bare.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Unobstructed, open.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Unencumbered (legally).^(OLD 2012)
+ # Unoccupied, [[m|en|vacant]]; undefended.^(OLD 2012)
+ # At leisure; free from cares.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[supervacuus]]
+ * [[vacua]]
+ * [[vacuē]]
+ * [[vacuēfaciō]]
+ * [[vacuitās]]
+ * [[vacūnālis]]
+ * [[vacuō]]
+ * [[vacuum]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[supervacuāneus]]
+ * [[supervacuē]]
+ * [[supervacuitās]]
+ * [[supervacuō]]
+ * [[vacāns]]
+ * [[vacanter]]
+ * [[vacēfīō]]
+ * [[vacīvus]]
+ * [[vacō]]
+ * [[inānis]]
+ * [[en|vacuum]]
+ * [[en|vacuous]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}