-do

Forms

-dō (present infinitive -dere, perfect active -didī, supine -ditum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *-þō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).^[2][1] De Vaan points out that verbal compounds in ⟨-dō⟩ can continue either this root or Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”), the root of dō; since the simple verb “to put” did not survive in Latin, he assigns to it the compounds that earlier etymological dictionaries ascribe to it.^[2] Wiktionary likewise notes that the two sets of compounds are not always easy to tell apart.^[1] Word-initial /dʰ/ gave Latin /f/, so the same root appears in faciō;^[1] inside the word it gave /d/, though de Vaan notes that this is regular only after certain consonants.^[2][1] The present may continue an athematic aorist or a reduplicated present.^[2]

Cognate with Oscan prúffed (“set up”), Hittite dāi- (“to put, place”), Sanskrit धा (dhā-), Avestan dā- (“to put, make”), Ancient Greek τίθημι (títhēmi) and Lithuanian dėti (“to lay, put”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs only in compounds, the oldest in the earliest texts: addō in the Law of the Twelve Tables, abdō, condō and indō in Plautus, subdō in Livius Andronicus and perdō in Naevius.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Combined with prepositional prefixes it made a set of verbs of placing: abdō “to hide”, addō “to add”, condō “to put together, store, found”, indō “to put in”, subdō “to put under” and perdō “to destroy, lose”.^[2] crēdō has the same root.^[2] Lewis & Short already separated this root from that of dō “to give”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables have addō.^[2][3]
• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus has subdō.^[2][3]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has abdō, condō and indō.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (only in compounds) To put, place.^[2][1][4]

Word family

• abdō
• addō
• condō
• indō
• perdō
• subdō
• abscondō

Related words

• crēdō
• dō
• faciō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press