suffixfirst/second-declension suffix
-ōsus
-ōsus (feminine -ōsa, neuter -ōsum)
Classical[oː.sʊs]Ecclesiastical[o.s̬us]
Meaning
- morphemesuffixused to form adjectives from nouns; -ose, -ous, -ful (full of or overly prone to)
nervus (“sinew, energy”) + -ōsus → nervōsus (“sinewy; nervous; energetic”)
racēmus (“cluster, bunch”) + -ōsus → racēmōsus (“clustering”)
Origins
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃ed-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃édosder.?
- Latin-ōsus
From older -ōssus. Likely reflects a Proto-Indo-European derivation *-h₃d-s-o-s from an athematic s-stem *h₃éd-os ~ *h₃éd-esos (“smell”, whence odor), from the root *h₃ed- (“to smell”). Originally meaning “smelling like”, as evidenced possibly by hircōsus (“smelling like a goat”) and vinōsus (“fond of wine, *reeking of wine?”), it would have later generalised into “full of”. Compare related Ancient Greek -ώδης (-ṓdēs, “smelling like; full of”) and Old Armenian -ոտ (-ot) which underwent the same semantic change. Alternatively, a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *-wénts has also been proposed, through a form such as *-wont-to- by suffixation of *-tós. This would make it a cognate of Ancient Greek -οῦς (-oûs).
Descendants
- Catalan-ós
- Italian-oso
- Occitan-ós
- Portuguese-osofrom Old Galician-Portuguese -oso
- French-euxfrom Old French -us
- German-ösfrom Old French -us
- French-ueuxfrom Old French -us
- English-ousfrom Old French -us
- Spanish-osofrom Old Spanish -oso
- Romanian-os