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dilabor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word dilabor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 235–200 BC, Naevius
Ultimate origin
Latin (lābor)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin labor
French labeur
Latin prolabor
Latin lapsus
Latin dilabor
Latin relabor
Latin delabor
Latin sublabor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [diːˈɫaː.bɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [diˈlaː.bor][1]

Forms

dīlābor (present infinitive dīlābī, perfect active dīlāpsus sum); third conjugation, deponent[1] Inscriptions often spell the participle dilabsum.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + lābor (“to slip, glide”).[3][1][2] Wiktionary connects ⟨lābor⟩ with labō (“to totter”) and perhaps Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to hang loosely, be weak”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest use in the OLD is a line of Naevius, “ill-gotten, ill-spent”, literally “things badly got go badly to pieces”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is used of liquids running away in different directions, of snow and ice melting, and of clouds dispersing: Cicero has the Fibrenus dividing and quickly flowing together again.[3][4] Crowds and armies melt away, as in Sallust's army of mixed peoples, ghosts vanish into thin air, and time passes.[3] Things also fall to pieces: Cicero writes of the ordered world perishing, and possessions and states decay.[3][4]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of ill-gotten goods coming to nothing.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of melting ice and a world falling apart.[3][4][5]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of an army melting away.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. Of liquids, to flow away or apart; to melt away, dissolve; of clouds, to disperse.[3][4][1]
  2. Of crowds, to slip away, scatter; of a vision, to vanish; of time, to pass.[3][1]
  3. To slip away, escape.[3][1]
  4. To fall to pieces, disintegrate; to collapse; to go to ruin, decay.[3][4][1]

Word family

  • dīlābidus
  • dilapsio

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Dilabor.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dilabor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·