Etymologically
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abiungo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [abˈjʊŋ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [abˈjuŋ.ɡo][1]

Forms

abiungō (present infinitive abiungere, perfect active abiūnxī, supine abiūnctum); third conjugation[1] The spelling abjungō is also found.[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- + iungō (“to join, yoke”).[2][3] The simple verb iungō goes back to Proto-Italic *jung-e/o- and to the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *(H)iunégti (“to yoke”).[4] Cognate with Sanskrit युनज्मि (yunájmi, “I yoke”), Ancient Greek ζεύγνυμι (zeúgnumi) and Lithuanian jùngti (“to tie, join, yoke”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero, Catullus and Caesar.[2][5] In a letter to Atticus, Cicero writes that Demosthenes had kept away from this wrangling courtroom style of speaking.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Caesar uses it of Labienus and his legions cut off,[2][7] and Virgil and Propertius in the literal sense of unyoking: a ploughman unyokes a steer that mourns its brother's death.[2][6] Statius uses it for drawing a goddess away from a place and, in the Thebaid, for making a cleft by splitting.[2]

Medieval writers used it for separating or removing,[8] as Lupus of Ferrières of the wretch cut off from God for ever;[8] Ecclesiastical Latin also has it for unloosing.[9]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for keeping away from a style of speaking.[6][5]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of severed locks of hair.[2][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a commander cut off from the army.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for unyoking a steer.[2][5]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it for making something by splitting.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To separate, detach.[2][6]
  2. To unyoke.[2][6]
  3. To keep (oneself) away from an activity.[2][10]
  4. To make by splitting or rending.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) To remove.[8]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b 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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn