addubito

Forms

addubitō (present infinitive addubitāre, perfect active addubitāvī, supine addubitātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + dubitō (“to doubt”).^[2][3][1] The base verb is derived from dubius (“doubtful”),^[4] which goes back to Proto-Italic *du(i)-fwo- and Proto-Indo-European *dui-bʰh₂u-o- (“double”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it several times, though never in his speeches,^[5] of feeling uncertain: si addubitas, ad Brutum transeamus, “if you are in doubt, let us go over to Brutus”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it with dē, with an indirect question, and with an accusative, “to call in question”, as of a doubtful omen of safety.^[2][5] Livy, Nepos and Horace use it in the same ways,^[2][5] and Silius Italicus has it with an infinitive, “to hesitate to”.^[2][5] Pliny the Younger says he will do something because he is urged to, though he has strong doubts.^[2]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of being in doubt.^[2][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it with an indirect question.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of doubts about envoys.^[2][5][6]
• 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus uses it with an infinitive.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To feel doubtful, be uncertain; to begin to doubt.^[2][5]
2. (with infinitive) To hesitate (to).^[2][5]
3. (with accusative) To feel doubt about, call in question.^[2][5]

Word family

• addubitatio

Related words

• dubitō
• indubitō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de