Etymologically
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aveho

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈaː.we.(ɦ)oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.ve.o][1]

Forms

āvehō (present infinitive āvehere, perfect active āvē̆xī, supine āvectum); third conjugation[1] Manuscripts also spell it abveho.[2] Plautus has the short perfect avexti for avexisti.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- + vehō (“to carry, convey”).[3][1][2] De Vaan traces vehō to Proto-Italic *weχ-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ueǵʰ-e/o- (“to carry”), comparing Umbrian ařveitu (“let him add”), Sanskrit वहति (váhati, “to carry, convey”) and Lithuanian vèžti (“to convey”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotations are in Plautus: in the Miles Gloriosus a slave knows that his master's mistress was carried off from Athens, and in the Cistellaria a woman has gone away abroad to live.[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to carry away or off, of people and of things: Caesar has the enemy shipping away what grain they could at short notice.[3] In the passive it means to go away, depart, and of riders and drivers to ride or drive off: in Propertius Cynthia drives away behind clipped ponies.[3] Lewis & Short say it is used of chariots, ships and horses, is classical but perhaps not found in Cicero, and has auferō as a synonym.[2] Ancient glosses explain it by ⟨exportat⟩ and ⟨asportavit⟩.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a woman carried off from Athens.[3][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of grain shipped away.[3][5]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of Cynthia driving away.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To convey away, carry off (people or things).[3][2][1]
  2. (passive) To go away, depart; to ride or drive off.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften