apricor

Forms

aprīcor (present infinitive aprīcārī); first conjugation, deponent, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin aprīcus (“sunny, exposed to the sun”) + -ō, a denominative verb with deponent endings.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Varro, in his Menippean satires: hieme in sōle aprīcārī, “to bask in the sun in winter”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero has it in the story of Diogenes: Alexander offēcerat Diogenī aprīcantī, “Alexander had stood between Diogenes and the sun as he basked in it”.^[6][2] Columella uses it of a hen sunning itself, and Pliny the Elder has it too.^[2][6]

In Late Latin an active aprīcō appears with the sense “to warm, make sunny”: Palladius uses it of a wall that warms a place, Ammianus Marcellinus of the weather growing warmer, and Paulinus of Nola, figuratively, of comforting someone with shelter and food.^[7][3][8] A medieval letter uses the deponent figuratively, of a book left lying idle as if sunning itself.^[9]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of basking in the winter sun.^[2][10]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Diogenes.^[6][2][10]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a hen.^[2][10]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses the active aprīcō of warmer weather.^[7][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bask in the sun, sun oneself.^[2][6][3]
2. (Medieval Latin, figurative) To lie idle, rest.^[9]

Usage notes

The active aprīcō, -āre is a Late Latin verb meaning “to warm in the sun”.^[6][7][3]

References

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