asto

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈas.toː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈas.to]^[1]

Forms

astō (present infinitive astāre, perfect active astitī); first conjugation, no supine stem, impersonal in the passive^[1] Also spelled adstō; its perfect astitī cannot be told apart from that of assistō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- (“at, by”) + stō (“to stand”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨stō⟩ to Proto-Italic *sta-ē-je/o- (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *sth₂-eh₁-ye/o- (“to stand”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Among the OLD's earliest citations are Naevius, Plautus and Ennius.^[2] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC and Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to stand by, near a person or thing, as in Plautus' astā atque audī “stop here and listen”; to stand waiting; to stand still, and poetically of things to remain unmoved, as in Ennius; to stand up, be upright; of things to be placed near by, as in Virgil; and to be present as a helper, assist.^[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to stand by or near.^[7] In Medieval Latin astō and astō animō were adverbial, deliberately.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of standing still.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stand by, stand near.^[2]
2. To stand waiting; to stand still.^[2]
3. To stand up, be upright.^[2]
4. (of things) To be placed near by.^[2]
5. To be present as a helper, assist.^[2]

Word family

• astator
• superasto
• astatus

Related words

• stō
• assistō
• circumstō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill