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accubo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word accubo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (cubō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cubo
Latin incubo
Latin excubo
Latin excubiae
Latin recubo
Latin accubo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈak.kʊ.boː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈak.ku.bo][1]

Forms

accubō (present infinitive accubāre); first conjugation, no perfect or supine stems, impersonal in the passive[1] It is also spelled adcubō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + cubō (“to lie down”).[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, of lying at table: a wife is told she may see her husband reclining with a garland, his arms around his mistress.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to lie or recline, at table, in bed or at rest, and to lie beside someone: in Plautus two guards always lie by a girl.[2][3] Plautus also uses it of a dog lying quietly.[2] Pliny the Elder has miners lying prone as they dig for a vein, and Virgil has the greatest of the Furies reclining close by.[2][3] Of things it is to lie or be situated by something, as a sacred grove with its shade in Virgil.[2] Apuleius uses it with an object, of a husband lying on a bed.[2] The perfect ⟨accubuī⟩ belongs to accumbō.[2][3] Church Latin glosses it to lie down, recline.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of reclining at table and of guards lying by a girl.[2][3][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a Fury reclining and of a grove.[2][3][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of miners lying prone.[2][4]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of lying on a bed.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To lie, recline at table; to dine.[2][3][1][5]
  2. To lie in bed or at rest; to lie beside someone; of animals, to lie.[2][3][1]
  3. Of things, to lie by, be situated near.[2]
  4. With an object, to lie on.[2]

Word family

  • accubātiō
  • accubitālia
  • accubitiō
  • accubitōrius
  • accubitum
  • accubitus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Accubo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/accubo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·