Etymologically
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absorbeo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [apˈsɔr.be.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [abˈsɔr.be.o][1]

Forms

absorbeō (present infinitive absorbēre, perfect active absorbuī or absorpsī, supine absorbitum or absorptum); second conjugation[1] Also spelled aps-.[2] The perfect is absorbuī, and Lucan has absorpsī.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- + sorbeō (“to suck in, swallow”).[2][1] De Vaan traces sorbeō to Proto-Italic *sorfeie- and Proto-Indo-European *srobʰ-eie- (“to slurp”), an iterative, perhaps partly imitative of the sound.[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ῥοφέω (rhophéō, “to slurp, gulp”) and Lithuanian sur̃bti (“to suck”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] who has a courtesan who swallows up whoever she touches, like a seething sea.[2][3] Lewis & Short cite a line of Naevius' Bellum Punicum in which the wave swallows legions.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is to swallow down or devour, as Horace has a man who gulps down whole cakes at once,[2][3] and of water to engulf: Cicero says the ocean could hardly have swallowed so much so fast.[2][3] Of solid things it is to swallow up or soak up: Lucan has the earth swallowing the Tigris, Celsus bread soaking up tears, Pliny the Elder the best lentils absorbing the most water, and Curtius drought drying up all moisture.[2][5] Figuratively Cicero says the tide of glory carried a man off, and that one person absorbs his whole speech.[3][5] Church Latin has “swallow, gulp, absorb”.[6] English absorb came from it in the early 15th century through Old French.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a courtesan who swallows up her lovers.[2][4][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the ocean engulfing things, and of a tide of glory.[2][3][8]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of gulping down cakes.[2][8]
  • 39–65 AD – Lucan, of the earth swallowing a river.[2][8]
  • early 15th century – English absorb, through Old French.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To swallow down, devour.[2][3][1]
  2. Of water, to engulf, submerge.[2][1]
  3. Of solid things, to swallow up; to soak up, absorb; of heat, to dry up.[2][5]
  4. (figurative) To carry off; to engross, take up wholly.[3][5][1]

Word family

  • absorptiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de