Etymologically
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addubito

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [adˈdʊ.bɪ.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [adˈduː.bi.to][1]

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

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