Etymologically
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albeo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈaɫ.be.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈal.be.o][1]

Forms

albeō (present infinitive albēre); second conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin albus (“white”) + -eō, a stative verb.[2][1] De Vaan traces albus to Proto-Italic *alfo- (“white”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰ-o- (“white”);[3] Paul the Deacon's Festus reports that the Sabines said ⟨alpus⟩.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Sisenna, who writes of the sky growing light.[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to be white or appear white: in Virgil the plains are white with bones.[2][5] Priscian notes that Virgil used this simple form beside the inchoative albēscō.[6] Seneca uses it of people who are pale and wan.[2] Lewis & Short call it rare and poetic, frequent in Ovid and found in post-Augustan prose, especially in the present participle ⟨albēns⟩: white roses, white foam, a head white with grey hair.[5] Church Latin glosses it to become white.[7]

Timeline

  • 120–67 BC – Sisenna of the sky growing light.[2][3][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of plains white with bones.[2][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of white roses and foam.[5][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of pale people.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be white, appear white.[2][5][1][7]
  2. To be pale.[2]
  3. Of the sky, to be or grow light.[2]

Word family

  • albēscō
  • albidus
  • inalbeō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson