contribulo

Forms

contrībulō (present infinitive contrībulāre, perfect active contrībulāvī, supine contrībulātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin con- + trībulō (“to press, afflict”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest record is in Tertullian's Against the Jews, where it means to afflict or humble.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of Christian Latin.^[4] The Vulgate uses it in both senses: literally, of crushing the heads of the dragons, and figuratively in sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus, “a broken spirit is a sacrifice to God”.^[4][3] Outside the Bible it is used of crushing flowers for a remedy, and in the scholia on Germanicus of the crab that Hercules trampled.^[2][5] In the Latin Origen, contribulari alicui means to share someone's tribulations.^[6]

Medieval Latin used it for breaking and rubbing off, for oppressing and afflicting, of the contrite heart, and for grieving together with someone.^[7] Wiktionary lists Romanian cutreiera and Aromanian cutriyir among its descendants, and Spanish contribular as a borrowing.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of afflicting and humbling.^[3][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Psalms, literally and figuratively.^[4][3][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To crush, bruise, shatter.^[4][3][9]
2. (figurative) To afflict greatly, to humble.^[4][3]
3. (passive, with dative) To share in someone's tribulations.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin, participle) Contrite.^[7]

Word family

• contribulatio

Related words

• trībulō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson