1. ăvĭa, or in late Lat., ăva, ae, f. [avus], a grandmother on the father’s or the mother’s side: Matres duas habet et avias duas, Plaut. Truc. 4, 3, 34: anus avia, Curt. 3, 11, 25; Vulg. 2 Tim. 1, 5: avia tam paterna quam materna, Dig. 38, 10, 10: Inter avam et neptem tu mediata agas, Ven. Fort. 8, Carm. 18, 8.
Meton., a prejudice, as it were, inherited from a grandmother: dum veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello, old wives’ fables, Pers. 5, 92, ubi v. Gildersleeve.
2. ăvĭa, ae, f., a plant, = senecio or erigeron, groundsel, Col. 6, 14, 3; 6, 14, 6; Veg. Art. Vet. 4, 14, 2; 4, 15, 4; cf. Schneid. ad h. ll.
ā-vĭus, a, um, adj. [via], that is out of the way, remote, out of the right way; also, untrodden, unfrequented, solitary, lonely, etc. (while devius signifies leading from the right way; and invius, having no way, pathless; in the poets and histt. freq.).
- I. Lit.
- A. Silvani lucus extra murum est avius, Plaut. Aul. 4, 6, 8: Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante Trita solo, Lucr. 1, 926: nemora avia, id. 2, 145: virgulta, Verg. G. 2, 328: montes, Hor. C. 1, 23, 2: aviis itineribus, through by-ways, Sall. J. 54, 9: cujus (Caesaris) sibi species itinere avio occurrisset, Suet. Aug. 96: solitudines, Vell. 2, 55: avia commeatibus loca, Liv. 9, 19, 16.
Also,
- B. Subst.: āvĭum, ii, n., a by-way, a desert, wilderness; in a pun with avium, from avis: hunc avium dulcedo ducit ad avium, Auct. ad Her. 4, 21, 29.
More freq. in plur.: āvĭa, ōrum: avia cursu Dum sequor, et notā excedo regione viarum, Verg. A. 2, 737: per avia ac derupta, Tac. A. 6, 21: per avia, Ov M. 1, 701; 2, 205.
So with gen.: avia vinerum, Vell. 2, 75: nemorum, Ov. M. 1, 179: saltuum, Tac. A. 2. 68: Oceani, id. ib. 2, 15: Armeniae, id. ib. 13, 37.
- C. Poet., of persons, wandering, straying: Continuo in montes sese avius abdidit altos, Verg. A. 11, 810.
- II. Trop.: Avius a verā longe ratione vagaris, astray, Lucr. 2, 82; 2, 229; 2, 740; 3, 463: init nunc avia coepto Consilia, i. e. leading away from the undertaking, Sil. 12, 493.