desertus

Latin

Etymology

Perfect passive participle of dēserō (“forsake, abandon”).

Participle

dēsertus (feminine dēserta, neuter dēsertum, comparative dēsertior, superlative dēsertissimus); first/second-declension participle

1. deserted, abandoned, forsaken; having been deserted, etc.
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.562–563:

     “[...] subiit dēserta Creūsa,
     et dīrepta domus, et parvī cāsūs Iūlī.”

     “[...] the thought of Creusa having been forsaken, and my home laid waste, and the misfortune of little Iulus.”
     (As Troy falls Aeneas fears for the safety of his own family.)

2. (substantive in the plural) desert

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	dēsertus	dēserta	dēsertum		dēsertī	dēsertae	dēserta
genitive	dēsertī	dēsertae	dēsertī		dēsertōrum	dēsertārum	dēsertōrum
dative	dēsertō	dēsertae	dēsertō		dēsertīs
accusative	dēsertum	dēsertam	dēsertum		dēsertōs	dēsertās	dēserta
ablative	dēsertō	dēsertā	dēsertō		dēsertīs
vocative	dēserte	dēserta	dēsertum		dēsertī	dēsertae	dēserta

Derived terms

• dēsertum
• dēsertiō
• indēsertus

Descendants

• Asturian: desiertu
• English: deserted
• French: désert
• Istro-Romanian: deșǫrt
• Italian: deserto, diserto
• Portuguese: deserto
• Romanian: deșert
• Spanish: desierto
  • → Cebuano: disyerto

References

• “desertus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “desertus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• desertus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • deserts: loca deserta (opp. frequentia)
    
  • (ambiguous) to be abandoned by good luck: a fortuna desertum, derelictum esse
    

Latvian

Noun

desertus m

1. accusative plural of deserts