decumbo

Forms

dēcumbō (present infinitive dēcumbere, perfect active dēcubuī); third conjugation, no supine stem, impersonal in the passive^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + *cumbō (“to lie down”).^[2][1][3] The simple verb is found only in compounds.^[1] De Vaan derives it, together with cubō (“to be lying”), from Proto-Italic *kumbe/o- (“to lie down”), a nasal present beside *kubā̆je/o- (“to be lying”).^[4] Because the root has /b/ and is limited to Italic and Celtic, he considers a Proto-Indo-European origin uncertain.^[4]

Cognate with Faliscan cupat “lies” and Paelignian incubat “lies (buried)”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[3][4] in the sense “to lie down”: sī sapiās, eās ac dēcumbās domī, “if you were wise, you would go and lie down at home”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Plautus and Terence also use it of reclining at table,^[2][5] and Cato of a sick man lying down.^[2][6] From there it came to mean taking to one's bed with illness: Seneca writes familia dēcubuit, “the household fell ill”, and Gellius and Apuleius use it the same way;^[2][6] it could also mean to die.^[2] A technical use described a beaten gladiator who falls: Cicero asks who has ever not only stood but even fallen turpiter, “disgracefully”.^[2][7][8] The Vulgate uses it of a person lying ill with fever,^[5] and Isidore distinguishes it as the word for lying down when sick.^[3]

Medieval writers used it of lying sick in bed, of going to bed, and of throwing oneself on the ground, and figuratively of applying oneself to a task.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of lying down and of reclining at table.^[2][10]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a sick man lying down.^[2][10]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a gladiator who falls.^[2][10]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of falling ill.^[2][10]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of lying ill with fever.^[5][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lie down, recline.^[2][5]
2. To recline at table.^[2][5][7]
3. To take to one's bed, lie ill; also, to die.^[2][6]
4. (of a gladiator) To fall, succumb.^[2][5][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) To throw oneself on the ground.^[9]
6. (Medieval Latin) To apply oneself (to something).^[9]

Usage notes

Isidore separates it from its compounds: a guest accubuit at table, the master recubuit in his bedroom, and a sick man dēcubuit.^[3]

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