# crassus
## Latin
### Alternative forms

* grassus (Late Latin)

### Etymology

Uncertain; suggested to be from Proto-Indo-European *kert- (“to wind”), and compared to crātis (“wickerwork”), however this is semantically doubtful. Possibly connected to grossus (“coarse; thick”), also of unknown origin.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkras.sus/, [ˈkräs̠ːʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈkras.sus/, [ˈkräsːus]

### Adjective

crassus (feminine crassa, neuter crassum, comparative crassior, superlative crassissimus); first/second-declension adjective
* dense, thick, solid
* fat, gross, plump
    aquae crassae ― deep waters, swollen waters
    fīlum crassum ― a thick thread
    homō crassus ― a fat person, a plump person
    toga crassa ― a thick toga
* (of a liquid) concentrated, thick; turgid
* (of the weather) heavy, thick, dense; murky
* (figuratively) crass, stupid, dull, stolid

#### Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

#### Synonyms

* (dense, thick): dēnsus, pinguis

#### Derived terms

* crassē
* crassēdō
* crassēscō
* crassificō
* crassitās
* crassitiēs
* crassitūdō
* crassivēnius
* crassō
* crassundia
* incrassō

#### Related terms

* crassāmen
* crassāmentum
* crassificātiō

#### Descendants

* > Old French: cras (inherited)
* → Catalan: cras
* → German: krass
* → Hunsrik: krass
* → Italian: crasso
* → Portuguese: crasso
* → Romanian: cras
* → Spanish: craso
Reflexes of the late variant grassus:
* Balkan Romance:
** Aromanian: gras
** Romanian: gras
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: grasso
** Sicilian: rassu, grassu
* Padanian:
** Gallo-Italic:
*** Lombard: grass
*** Romagnol: gras
*** Piedmontese: grass
** Friulian: gras
** Venetan: graso, gras
* Gallo-Romance:
** Catalan: greix
** Franco-Provençal: grâs
** Gascon: grèish
** Old French: gras (see there for further descendants)
** Occitan: grais
* Ibero-Romance:
** Aragonese: graixo
** Galician: graxo
** Portuguese: graxo
** Spanish: graso
* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian: rassu
* ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *crassia (see there for further descendants)

### References

* ↑ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “kert-, kerət-, krāt-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 584
* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “crassus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 141

### Further reading

* “crassus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “crassus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* crassus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. with no intelligence or skill: crassa or pingui Minerva (proverb.)
* “crassus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “crassus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray