cubito

Forms

cubitō (present infinitive cubitāre, perfect active cubitāvī, supine cubitātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cubō (“to lie down”) + -itō, a frequentative.^[2][3] De Vaan lists it from Plautus on among the words of the family of -cumbō, and reconstructs the base as Proto-Italic *kubā̆je/o- (“to be lying”).^[4] Because of the /b/ and because the root is found only in Italic and Celtic, its Indo-European origin is uncertain.^[4]

Cognate with Faliscan cupat and Paelignian incubat, both “lies”, and with Middle Welsh kyscu (“to sleep”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it from Plautus on.^[4] In the Curculio a character remarks anus hīc solet cubitāre, “an old woman usually sleeps here”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It means to lie down or recline habitually, especially to sleep.^[2][3] With cum it was used of sleeping with someone, in the sexual sense, in Plautus and later in Quintilian.^[2][3] Cicero uses it of a boy who slept with his older sister.^[5] Columella says it of peacocks that roost on the ground, and Tacitus of reclining at someone's feet.^[3][5] In Ammianus it is said of soldiers encamped before a wall.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of sleeping and of sleeping with someone.^[2][3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a child sleeping with his sister.^[3][5][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of peacocks roosting on the ground.^[3][6]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian has the sexual sense.^[3][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of soldiers lying encamped.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lie down habitually, recline; to take one's rest, sleep.^[2][3]
2. cubitāre cum aliquō: to sleep with someone, have sexual relations.^[2][3]
3. Of soldiers: to lie encamped.^[5]

Word family

• accubitō
• incubitō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de