Etymologically
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abeo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈa.be.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.be.o][1]

Forms

abeō (present infinitive abīre, perfect active abiī or abīvī, supine abitum); irregular conjugation, impersonal in the passive[1] Plautus has the imperative abei and abin for abīsne.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from ab- “away” and eō “to go”.[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨eō⟩ to Proto-Italic *ei- (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Naevius and Plautus.[2] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to go away, depart, as in Plautus; to go off with a purpose; to forsake, desert, or go over to another side, as in Cicero; to pass away, die, as in Lucilius; to come off from an encounter in some way, as in Cato.[2] Of things it meant to depart; to pass into or spread through; to change into, become, as in Varro; to disappear, cease; of time, to pass; to give up a task, as in Naevius; to pass from someone's control; to turn aside; and to digress from a subject, as in Cicero.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to go away.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of giving up.[2][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of departing.[2][5]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of dying.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go away, depart.[2]
  2. To desert; to go over to.[2]
  3. To pass away, die.[2]
  4. To come off (well or badly).[2]
  5. To pass into; to change into.[2]
  6. To disappear, cease, (of time) to pass.[2]
  7. To give up; to digress.[2]

Word family

  • abitiō
  • abitus
  • trānsabeō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson