combibo

Forms

combibō (present infinitive combibere, perfect active combibī, supine combibitum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled conbibō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + bibō (“to drink”).^[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of bibō, from Cato on, and reports Rosén's view that in the oldest texts ⟨con-⟩ only makes such verbs perfective, as in this verb beside the simple one, and means “together” only from the end of the Republic.^[5] He traces the simple verb to Proto-Italic *pibe/o- and Proto-Indo-European *pi-ph₃-e/o- (“to drink”), with the initial /b/ assimilated to the internal one; cognates include Faliscan pafo (“I will drink”), Sanskrit पिबति (píbati) and Old Irish ibid.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL record it first in Cato,^[5][4][6] who tells the farmer to press the grapes by hand so that they combibant aquam marinam, “absorb the sea water”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short describe the sense to drink up, absorb, as the most common one, rare before the Augustan period.^[3] Ovid uses it of drinking up tears and, figuratively, of swallowing one's own tears, Horace of a body absorbing black poison, and Martial has combibere soles, to soak up the sun.^[2][3] Of substances it means to soak in moisture, and in poetry flames.^[2] Cicero uses it once, figuratively, of absorbing the arts, and it is also used of taking in teaching or habits.^[2][3] Seneca uses it intransitively of drinking together.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of grapes absorbing sea water.^[2][5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it figuratively of absorbing the arts.^[2][3][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a body absorbing poison.^[2][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of drinking together.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To drink up completely.^[2][3]
2. To absorb, take in, by drinking or otherwise;^[2] combibere soles, to sunbathe; of tears, to swallow, hold back.^[2]
3. Of substances, to soak in moisture.^[2]
4. Figuratively, to absorb, become imbued with teaching or habits.^[2][3]
5. To drink together.^[2][3]

Word family

• combibiolus

Usage notes

A separate noun combibō, genitive combibōnis, “drinking companion”, is formed from the verb;^[2][3][5] Lewis and Short find it perhaps only in Lucilius and in a letter of Cicero.^[2][3][5]

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 m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de