dealbo

Forms

dealbō (present infinitive dealbāre, perfect active dealbāvī, supine dealbātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + albus (“white”), with the verbal suffix of the first conjugation, according to the OLD and the TLL;^[2][3] Wiktionary derives it from albō (“to whiten”).^[1] The adjective albus goes back to Proto-Italic *alfo- (“white”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰ-o- (“white”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first dated author is Cicero, who in the Verrines tells of columns that were merely whitewashed.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant to whitewash or plaster walls and columns: a building law of Puteoli prescribes walls coated with wet lime, Vitruvius uses it of walls and Suetonius of a whitewashed cross.^[3][7] A proverb in a letter of Curius to Cicero, “to whitewash two walls from the same pot”, meant to reach two ends by one action.^[6][7]

In the Vulgate and Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to make white, purify or cleanse.^[5][8][9] Medieval writers used it of whitening walls, of making silver in alchemy, of painting the face white, and figuratively of glossing over or concealing.^[10] It may be the source, through Old French dauber, of English daub.^[11]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of whitewashed columns.^[5][6][12]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of plastering walls.^[7][12]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of purifying.^[5][8][12]
• late 14th century – English daub appears, perhaps from this verb through Old French.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To whitewash, whiten; to plaster.^[2][6]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To make white, purify, cleanse.^[9][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) To gloss over, conceal.^[10]

Word family

• dealbāmentum
• dealbatio
• dealbātor
• subdealbo

Related words

• English daub

Usage notes

The proverb duo parietes de eadem fidelia dealbare, “to whitewash two walls from the same pot”, is the Latin counterpart of “to kill two birds with one stone”.^[6][7][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de