adequito

Forms

adequitō (present infinitive adequitāre, perfect active adequitāvī, supine adequitātum); first conjugation, no passive^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- (“to, towards”) + equitō (“to ride”),^[2][3][1] and that verb comes from eques (“horseman”), from equus (“horse”).^[1] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *ekwo- (“horse”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁eḱ-u- (“horse”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Caesar,^[3][5] who writes that the cavalry of Ariovistus came closer to the mound and rode up to the Roman troops (ad nostrōs adequitāre).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Livy uses it often: with a dative, of riding up to the very gates or the rampart; of Numidians who rode up and then fled back; and without an object, of horsemen who rode up posing as deserters.^[3][5] Curtius has it with ad and in,^[5][3] and Pliny the Elder, Frontinus, Tacitus and Florus with a dative.^[3] Suetonius uses it with circā and iuxtā for riding around or beside someone, as of riders who went ahead of a carriage or rode around it.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of the cavalry of Ariovistus riding up to the Romans.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of riding up to gates and ramparts.^[3][6]
• 1st century AD – Curtius uses it with ad and in.^[5][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of riding up to a camp.^[3][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of riding beside or around someone.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To ride up (to), ride towards (with ad, in or a dative), gallop up.^[2][5][7]
2. To ride around or beside (with circā or iuxtā).^[2][5][7]

Related words

• abequitō
• circumequitō
• equitō
• inequitō
• interequitō
• obequitō
• perequitō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier