adoperio

Forms

adoperiō (present infinitive adoperīre, perfect active adoperuī, supine adopertum); fourth conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + operiō (“to cover”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan traces the simple verb to Proto-Italic *op-wer-i(e)- (“to cover up”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂uer-i(e)- (“to cover”);^[5] it is the counterpart of aperiō (“to open”), with the prefix ⟨op-⟩ in place of ⟨ap-⟩.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Virgil,^[3] who has purpureo adopertus amictu, “covered with a purple cloak”, in the Aeneid.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note that it is not used before the Augustan period and mostly in the perfect participle.^[6] Livy has capite adopertō, “with the head covered”;^[6][8] Ovid writes of ground covered with flowers and of eyes veiled by sleep, adoperta lumina somno;^[6][9][8] Columella of eggs covered with salt and of a vine shoot covered with earth.^[7][8] It could also mean to shut a door.^[8][4] Festus explains the Italian custom of veiling the head by Aeneas having covered his.^[3] Medieval writers use it of people dressed in poor clothes and, figuratively, of people seized by terror.^[10]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the participle of a cloak.^[3][6][11]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has capite adopertō.^[6][11]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid writes of eyes veiled by sleep.^[6][9][11]
• 1st century AD – Columella covers eggs with salt.^[7][11]
• 2nd half of the 2nd century AD – Festus uses it of Aeneas covering his head.^[3][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cover over, cover up; to veil (the head or face).^[2][6][7]
2. To shut (a door).^[8][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) To come over, seize (of fear).^[10]

Related words

• operiō
• aperiō
• cooperiō
• adaperiō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de