debeo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈdeː.be.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈdɛː.be.o]^[1]

Forms

dēbeō (present infinitive dēbēre, perfect active dēbuī, supine dēbitum); second conjugation^[1] Plautus has the uncontracted perfect dēhibuistī.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- (“away”) + habeō (“to have”) by contraction, literally “to hold back from someone, withhold”.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it of owing money.^[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero explains the old sense: the debtor keeps someone else's money.^[6] In Classical Latin it was to owe money, to be legally bound to give, to owe services, thanks or one's life, and, with an infinitive, “ought, should”, for moral, logical or practical reasons.^[3] Fate could “owe” a death, and the passive meant “to be due”.^[3][1]

In medieval Latin it kept the senses “must, owe, be bound”.^[7] It survives as Italian dovere, French devoir, Spanish deber and Portuguese dever.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of owing money.^[3][5]
• c. 1300 – English debt is recorded, from dēbitum “thing owed”.^[8]
• late 14th century – English due is recorded as “owed, payable”, from Old French deu, from dēbēre.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To owe (money).^[3][6]
2. To be bound to give or provide; to owe (services, thanks).^[3]
3. To be indebted (to someone) for.^[3]
4. With an infinitive, to be obliged to; ought, should.^[3][1]
5. In the passive, to be due.^[1]

Word family

• dēbitiō
• dēbitor
• dēbitrix
• dēbitum
• indēbitus

Related words

• habeō
• English debt
• English due

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts necesse est, the necessity of nature, with oportet, the obligation of morality.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper