Etymologically
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absterreo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [apˈstɛr.re.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [abˈstɛr.re.o][1]

Forms

absterreō (present infinitive absterrēre, perfect active absterruī, supine absterritum); second conjugation[1] It is also spelled apsterreō.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- (“away”) + terreō (“to frighten”), with the prefix in the form ⟨abs-⟩.[2][1] De Vaan traces terreō to Proto-Italic *tros-eje- (“to scare”) and Proto-Indo-European *tros-eie- (“to make scared”), with cognates in Umbrian tursitu (“to scare”) and Sanskrit त्रसन्ति (trásanti, “to tremble, be afraid”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first: in the Mostellaria someone is begged to scare the father away somehow.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Terence and Cicero use it of keeping people away by fear, as Cicero says neither his doorkeeper nor sleep had ever kept anyone from meeting him.[4] Lucretius has nature denying growth, and in the sense “deter, discourage” Seneca says virtue neither entices by gain nor deters by loss.[2] Cicero in the De oratore says a poet would have done better to write vetās, prohibēs, absterrēs than the line he quotes.[5] It is also spelled ⟨aps-⟩.[2] Stelten gives “frighten away, deter, remove”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of frightening someone away.[2][4][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, in the same sense.[4][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of keeping visitors away.[4][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of deterring.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To frighten away, drive off, keep away by fear.[2][4][1][6]
  2. To keep away, withhold, deny (something to someone).[2][1]
  3. To deter, discourage (from an act).[2][4][1]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de