Etymologically
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contueor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔnˈtu.e.ɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [konˈtuː.e.or][1]

Forms

contueor (present infinitive contuērī, perfect active contuitus sum); second conjugation, deponent[1] The third-conjugation form contuor, contuī occurs in Plautus, Pomponius, Lucretius and Statius.[2][3][4] Ennius has an active form contuō.[3] The perfect participle is apparently attested only in Suetonius.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + tueor (“to look at; to guard”).[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of tueor, from Plautus on.[4] He takes the original meaning of that verb to be “to watch over, protect”, which became “to look at” in the compounds, and calls attractive a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *tuh₂- (“to be strong”), comparing Sanskrit तवीति (tavīti) “is strong”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD record it first in Plautus,[4][2][5] who has quotiens te votui Argyrippum colloquive aut contui?, “how often have I forbidden you to speak to Argyrippus or look at him?”[2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to look at, gaze on, as Cicero bids his hearers look at a man's face and Lucretius speaks of the strange figures we see in dreams.[2] Of places it means to be within sight of: Mela's Corinth looks out on both seas from its citadel.[2][3] Cicero also uses it of the mind contemplating the heavens.[2] In the weaker sense to behold, see, Plautus and Nepos have it, and Pliny the Elder contrasts eyes that see far with those that see only what is near.[2] Varro uses it once of tending cattle.[2] Lewis and Short call it rare but classical, most frequent in Cicero, and give the meanings to weigh, ponder.[3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to look at attentively, consider.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it, in the form contuī, of looking at a person.[2][4][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of looking after cattle.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of looking and of mental contemplation.[2][5]
  • 43/44 AD – Mela uses it of a city overlooking the sea.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To look at, gaze on, contemplate.[2][3]
  2. Of places, to be within sight of, look out on.[2]
  3. To contemplate with the mind, ponder, consider.[2][3][6]
  4. To behold, see.[2]
  5. To look after, tend.[2][1]

Word family

  • contuitus
  • contūtus

Usage notes

Döderlein groups it with spectō, intueor and tueor as verbs of looking, as against videō and cernō, which denote seeing; he distinguishes intuērī, to contemplate attentively, from contuērī, to gaze fixedly and keenly with wide-open eyes.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper