ceveo

Forms

cēveō (present infinitive cēvēre, perfect active cēvī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1] The perfect cēvī is given only by the grammarian Probus.^[2] A third-conjugation form cēvō also occurs.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kēweō,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *keh₁u-ei̯e/o- (“to throw, shake”).^[4] Wiktionary describes it as the e-grade iterative of *keh₁w- (“to swing”).^[1] Schrijver took it for a causative with e-grade in the root, but de Vaan notes that the meaning is iterative rather than causative, and that if the verb originally had o-grade, as the LIV assumes, the e-grade is hard to explain.^[4] Cognate with Czech kývati and Slovene kívati “to nod”, from Proto-Slavic *kyvati (“to nod”).^[4][1] The TLL calls the origin uncertain, reporting W. Meyer's comparison with Slavic verbs for moving the head.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Martial,^[4] but Nonius quotes it from a fragment of Plautus.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of satire and epigram, used of the passive partner in sex between men, who moves his haunches lewdly or effeminately.^[6][5] Juvenal uses it twice and Martial once.^[2][7] Persius has it figuratively, “to fawn”, which Lewis & Short explain as an image taken from a dog wagging its tail.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – A fragment of Plautus quoted by Nonius uses it.^[2][5][8]
• 34–62 AD – Persius uses it figuratively, “to fawn”.^[2][8]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it.^[2][7][8]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it in two satires.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (vulgar, of the passive partner in sex between men) To move the haunches lewdly or effeminately.^[6][2][1]
2. (figurative) To fawn, to flatter.^[2][5][1]

Usage notes

Lewis & Short and Georges compare crīsō.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de