saucius.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kes- Proto-Indo-European *ksew- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *ksowós Proto-Italic *-Vk Proto-Italic *(k)sawVk- Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin saucius May be from Proto-Indo-European *ksew-, extended from *kes- (“to scratch, itch”). More specifically, the term might reflect an adjective *ksowós (“scraping”), which could have been combined with a suffix *-Vk to produced a derivative *(k)saw-Vk- with the unrounding of *ow > *aw. Regarding the identity of this *-Vk suffix, Vine suggests that it is probably comparable to the endings of terms such as rāmex (“blood vessels of the lungs”) or varix (“a varicose vain”). Afterwards, the addition of the -ius suffix would create the attested Latin form. Cognate with novācula, sentis, Ancient Greek ξέω (xéō), ξύω (xúō, “to scrape”), ξαίνω (xaínō), Old English besnyþian.