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The corpus record — Latin

obscurus

obscurus

dark, gloomy

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 156 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. obscurus — de Vaan

obscurus 'dark, gloomy' [adj. o/a] (Ena+) Derivatives: obscurare 'to obscure (heavenly bodies or sources of light), darken' (PL+), obsdiridicus 'speaking obscurely' (Ace), obscuritas 'darkness, obscurity' (Varro+). Pit *skoi-ro-. PIE *skoh2-i-ro- 'dark, shady'? IE cognates: Gr. σκίρον [η J (description of a white parasol or canopy); Go. skeirs, OIc. skirr, NHG schier 'clear, bright' < *slaro-. The original meaning … — [de Vaan, s.v. obscurus, p. 436]

2. obscūrus — Lewis & Short

obscūrus, a, um, adj.Sanscr. sku, to cover, akin to Gr. skeuh/, sku=tos, ku/tos; cf.: scutum, cutis,

I dark, darksome, dusky, shady, obscure (class.).
I Lit.: unde (Acherunte) animae excitantur obscurā umbrā, in dark, shadowy forms, Poët. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1, 16, 37; so, umbra, Verg. A. 6, 453: donec in obscurum coni conduxit acumen, the obscure point of the cone, Lucr. 4, 431: lucus, Verg. A. 9, 87: antrum, Ov. M. 4, 100: convalles, Verg. A. 6, 139: tabernae, Hor. A. P. 229; cf. Liv. 10, 1, 5: aliae res obnoxiosae nocte in obscurā latent, Enn. ap. Gell. 7, 16 (17), 10 (Trag. v. 341 Vahl.): nox, Verg. A. 2, 420; cf.: per occasum solis, jam obscurā luce, Liv. 24, 21: caelum, Hor. C. 1, 7, 15: nimbus, Verg. A. 12, 416: nubes, id. G. 4, 60: ferrugo, i. e. black, id. ib. 1, 467: dentes, Juv. 6, 145.—Poet.: funda, dark, i. e. invisible, Val. Fl. 6, 193; cf. mamma, i. e. hidden, covered, id. 3, 52, 6: aquae, i. e. turbid, Ov. F. 4, 758.—Subst.: obscūrum, i, n., dim light, twilight: in obscuro, advesperascente die, Vulg. Prov. 7, 9; but commonly the dark, darkness, obscurity: sub obscurum noctis, Verg. G. 1, 478: lumen, i. e. darkness visible, Sall. J. 21, 2.—obscū-rum, adverb.: obscurum nimbosus dissidet aër, Luc. 5, 631.—
B Transf., to the person who is in the dark, darkling, unseen: ibant obscuri solā sub nocte per umbram, Verg. A. 6, 268: obscurus in ulvā Delitui, id. ib. 2, 135.—
II Trop.
A In gen., dark, obscure, indistinct, unintelligible: Heraclitus ... Clarus ob obscuram linguam, Lucr. 1, 639: valde Heraclitus obscurus (cf. the Gr. appellation of Heraclitus, o( skoteino/s), Cic. Div. 2, 64, 133: quid? poëta nemo, nemo physicus obscurus? id. ib.: obscurā de re tam lucida pango carmina, Lucr. 1, 933; 4, 8: brevis esse laboro, Obscurus fio, Hor. A. P. 25: reperta Graiorum, Lucr. 1, 136: obscurum et ignotum jus, Cic. de Or. 1, 39, 177: cur hoc tam est obscurum atque caecum? id. Agr. 2, 14, 35: nolo plebem Romanam obscurā spe et caecā expectatione haerere, uncertain, id. ib. 2, 25, 66.—Comp., Quint. 11, 3, 60.—Sup.: videre res obscurissimas, Cic. de Or. 2, 36, 153.—Subst.: causae in obscuro positae, Cels. 1 praef.—
2 In partic., rhet. t. t.: obscurum genus causae, obscure, i. e. intricate, involved, Gr. dusparakolou/qhton, Cic. Inv. 1, 15, 20: (causae privatae) sunt multo saepe obscuriores, id. de Or. 2, 24, 100.—
B Not known, unknown, not recognized: forma, Ov. M. 3, 475: P Ilas, i. e. disguised, under another form, id. ib. 6, 36.—Esp. of rank and station, obscure, ignoble, mean, low: non est obscura tua in me benevolentia, Cic. Fam. 13, 70: Caesaris in barbaris erat nomen obscurius, * Caes. B. C. 1, 61: Pompeius humili atque obscuro loco natus, of an obscure, ignoble family, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 70, § 181: obscuris orti majoribus, from obscure ancestors, id. Off. 1, 32, 116: clarus an obscurus, Quint. 5, 10, 26; cf.: si nobilis obscurum se vocet, id. 11, 1, 21; 2, 3, 9: non obscurus professor et auctor, id. 2, 15, 36: natus haud obscuro loco, Sall. C. 23, 1.— Neutr. absol.: in obscuro vitam habere, Sall. C. 51, 12: vitam per obscurum transmittere, in obscurity, Sen. Ep. 19, 3: saepe mandatum initio litis in obscuro est, kept back, Gai. Inst. 4, 84.—
C Of character, close, secret, reserved: obscurus et astutus homo, Cic. Off. 3, 13, 5 (for which: sin me astutum et occultum lubet fingere, id. Fam. 3, 10, 8): plerumque modestus Occupat obscuri speciem, Hor. Ep. 1, 18, 94: Tiberium obscurum adversus alios, sibi uni incautum intectumque efficeret, Tac. A. 4, 1: obscurum odium, Cic. Fam. 3, 10, 6.—Comp.: natura obscurior, Tac. Agr. 42.—Adv.: ob-scūrē, darkly, obscurely (class.).
A Lit.: aut nihil superum aut obscure admodum cernimus, very darkly, Cic. Fragm. ap. Non. 474, 28.—
B Trop.
1 Of speech, darkly, obscurely, indistinctly: dicta, Quint. 3, 4, 3; 4, 1, 79.—Comp.: quae causa dicta obscurius est, Quint. 8, 2, 24.—Sup.: obscurissime particulā uti, Cell. 17, 13, 5: non obscurissime dicere (opp. planissime), id. 11, 16, 9.—
2 Of birth, obscurely, ignobly, meanly (perh. only post-class.): obscure natus, Macr. S. 7, 3: obscurissime natus, Amm. 29, 1, 5.—
3 Covertly, closely, secretly: malum obscure serpens, Cic. Cat. 4, 3, 6: tacite obscureque perire, id. Quint. 15, 50: non obscure ferre aliquid, id. Clu. 19, 54; cf. id. Par. 6, 1, 45; Hirt. B. G. 8, 54.—Comp.: ceteri sunt obscurius iniqui, more secretly, Cic. Fam. 1, 5, b, 2.—Sup.: avertere aliquid de publico quam obscurissime, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 24, § 53.

In the wild

6 of 625 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. obscurus (scan pp. 436-437; entry #1191). Root candidates: *slaro-, *obs-, *skuHro-.

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.