nitidus

From niteō (“to shine”) +‎ -idus. The extended sense of 'pure, clean' (first attested in Marcellus Empiricus, ca. 400 CE) survives in the Gallo- and Italo-Romance descendants of the word.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈni.ti.dus/, [ˈnɪt̪ɪd̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈni.ti.dus/, [ˈniːt̪id̪us]

nitidus (feminine nitida, neuter nitidum, comparative nitidior, superlative nitidissimus); first/second-declension adjective

1. shining, polished, glittering
2. handsome, beautiful, good-looking
3. (of persons) healthy-looking, well conditioned
4. (of animals) sleek, plump
   • Horace, Q. Horatii Flacci Satiræ. The Satires of Horace, in Philip Francis, A Poetical Translation of the Works of Horace, With the Original Text, vol. 2, 1749, publ. by A. Millar, page 178, line 214.

     Si quis lecticâ nitidam geſtare amet agnam;

     If any person should take a delight to carry about with him in his sedan a pretty lambkin

5. (of plants) blooming, fertile
6. (of speech or writing) cultivated, refined
7. (Late Latin) pure, clean

First/second-declension adjective.

• Balkan Romance:
  • Romanian: neted (“smooth, clear”)
• North Italian:
  • Ladin: nët, nëidi
  • Lombard: nédi
  • Romansch: neidi, naidi
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Occitan: nede ⇒ nedas
  • Old Catalan: nèdeu (“clean”)
    • Catalan: nèdeu~nèdio~nèdol~nedo (“pasturage”)[1]
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: nidiu, ñidiu
  • Leonese: nidio (Salamanca)
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: nedio
    • Galician: nidio
    • Portuguese: nédio
  • Old Spanish: nidio
• Vulgar Latin:
  • *nittus (via syncope; see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → Catalan: nítid
  • → English: nitid
  • → French: nitide
  • → Italian: nitido
  • → Portuguese: nítido
  • → Sicilian: nìtitu
  • → Spanish: nítido

• Buchi, Éva, Schweickard, Wolfgang (2008–) “*/ˈnɪtid-u/”, in Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman, Nancy: Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française.
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “nĭtĭdus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 7: N–Pas, page 147

• “nitidus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nitidus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nitidus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.