Etymologically
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dolo

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dolo1 hew

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdɔ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɔː.lo][1]

Forms

dolō (present infinitive dolāre, perfect active dolāvī, supine dolātum); first conjugation[1] Varro has a participle dolītus.[2][3]

Etymology

The verb “to hew” is inherited from Proto-Italic *dolaje-, from Proto-Indo-European *dolh₁-ie/o- (“to cut repeatedly”) or *d(e)lh₁-ie/o- (“to cut”).[4] De Vaan notes that the Latin stem may continue either an e-grade or an o-grade, and that the noun dolābra (“pick”) suggests a primary verb rather than one made from a noun.[4] He compares Lithuanian dìlti (“to wear off, disappear”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.[4] Cato says that the farmer will fell, hew and saw the timber, materiem succidet, dolabit, secabit.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to hew or chop into shape with an axe:[2][3] Cicero has oak being hewn.[3] Horace uses it of beating a boatman's back with a cudgel.[2] Figuratively it means to fashion or devise.[1] Church Latin keeps the sense to hew with an axe.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[4][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato, of hewing timber.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of hewing oak.[3][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of cudgelling.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hew or chop into shape.[2][3][1]
  2. To batter, beat.[2]
  3. (figurative) To fashion, devise.[1]

Word family

  • dolābra
  • dolāmen
  • dolātilis
  • dolātōrium
  • ēdolō
  • dēdolō

dolo2 pike

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdɔ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɔː.lo][1]

Forms

dolō m (genitive dolōnis); third declension[1] The nominative is also dolōn.[3][7]

Etymology

The pike is borrowed from Ancient Greek δόλων (dólōn),[2][1][6] which Wiktionary derives from δόλος (dólos, “bait, trick”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Varro,[6] who, as Servius reports, describes it as a huge pole with a very short iron point.[7][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a weapon with a wooden shaft and a short iron point:[2] Virgil has men carrying javelins and cruel dolōnēs into war,[2] and Silius uses it too.[3] A scholiast on Virgil calls it a sword with a very sharp, thin blade, and Suetonius uses it of a hidden dagger in a cane.[7][3] Livy uses it of a ship's topsail, raised to put out to sea.[2]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro, of a pole with an iron point.[7][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of a weapon of war.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of a topsail.[2][6]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, of a dagger hidden in a cane.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pike with a short iron point;[2][3] a sword-stick, hidden dagger.[3][1]
  2. A topsail.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften