Etymologically
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dilabor

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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