devoveo

Forms

dēvoveō (present infinitive dēvovēre, perfect active dēvōvī, supine dēvōtum); second conjugation^[1] Accius has dēvōrō for dēvōverō.^[2] Inscriptions write divotus and debotus.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + voveō (“to vow”).^[2][3] De Vaan traces ⟨voveō⟩ to Proto-Italic *wow-eje/o- (“to promise”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁uogʷʰ-eie- (“to promise”), cognate with Sanskrit ओहते (óhate, “to praise”) and perhaps Umbrian vufru (“votive”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is Ennius' Annals, where Remus devotes himself to taking the auspices.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is “to vow as an offering”, as Cicero's Agamemnon vowing to Diana the fairest thing born that year.^[2][5] In particular a general devoted himself and the enemy army to the gods below for his country's sake, and Caesar uses it of Gallic warriors bound by oath to their chief.^[2] It also means “to curse, execrate”, as Catullus' accursed perjuries, and “to bewitch”, as Tibullus' old woman with pale herbs.^[2] Virgil uses it of Dido, doomed to coming ruin, and generally it is to devote oneself to a person or pursuit.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “vow, devote, mark out”.^[6] English devote (1580s) comes from its participle dēvōtus.^[7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of Remus devoting himself to augury.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of Agamemnon's vow.^[2][8]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of sworn followers.^[2][8]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of curses.^[2][8]
• 1580s – English devote.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To vow as an offering, devote.^[2][5][1][6]
2. Of a general, to devote himself and the enemy to the gods below; to bind oneself by oath.^[2]
3. To curse, execrate; to bewitch.^[2][1]
4. To doom, destine; to devote oneself to a person or pursuit.^[2][1][6]

Word family

• dēvōtāmentum
• dēvōtātiō
• dēvōtē
• dēvōtiō
• dēvōtō
• dēvōtus

Related words

• voveō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de