Etymologically
Log in

adorior

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 02:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aˈdɔ.ri.ɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈdɔː.ri.or][1]

Forms

adorior (present infinitive adorīrī, perfect active adortus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent[1] Lucilius and Lucretius have adorītur, and Suetonius and Apuleius adorerētur.[2][3] Gellius has a participle adorsus.[2][3] An active adoriō is also found.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from ad- (“to, towards”) and orior (“to rise”).[2][4][1] De Vaan derives ⟨orior⟩ from Proto-Italic *or-i- (“to rise”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃r-i- (“to rise”).[5] Cognate with Umbrian ortom est (“has arisen”) and Hittite arai- (“to rise, lift”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it once in Naevius and Ennius and three times in Plautus,[4] whose old man “stands ready to attack the adulterer” in the Miles gloriosus;[2] Ennius has the Gauls attacking the top of the citadel.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to attack, assault or assail, of people and armies, of political attacks, as Livy's man who lay in wait and attacked the state, of plague and storm, and figuratively of desire seizing the mind.[2][3] It is to assail with threats or reproaches, as Terence's “he attacked his brother with a quarrel about that music-girl”, and to accost or approach with a request, as Terence's “why don't I accost him?”.[2][3][1]

It is also to tackle a task, set to work, and with an infinitive to attempt or begin, as Cicero's “if we try to tear up what cannot be moved”.[2][3][1] The TLL finds it most often in Caesar and the Bellum Africum.[4] Church Latin glosses it “rise up, undertake”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius.[4][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of attacking an adulterer.[2][7]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of the Gauls attacking the citadel.[2][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of accosting and reproaching.[2][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it very often.[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To attack, assault, assail.[2][3][1]
  2. To assail (with threats, reproaches); to accost, address.[2][3][1]
  3. To undertake, set about; to attempt, begin.[2][3][1][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de