ebrius

Forms

ēbrius (feminine ēbria, neuter ēbrium); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

De Vaan derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₁egʷʰ- (“to drink”): it is inherited from Proto-Italic *ēxʷrio-, from a noun “drinking”, with /gʷʰr/ becoming /br/ as in febris (“fever”).^[2][1] The root is that of Hittite ekuzi (“drinks”) and Tocharian B yok- (“to drink”), and Ancient Greek νήφω (nḗphō, “to be sober”) is “not drink”; the long ⟨ē⟩ is unexplained, perhaps taken from a lost verb form.^[2] The OLD calls it doubtful and Köbler unclear; sōbrius (“sober”) is related.^[3][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler give Naevius as its first author.^[2][4] In Plautus' Amphitruo Mercury says adsimulābō mē esse ēbrium, “I'll pretend to be drunk”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is drunk, sometimes set against ēbriōsus, a habitual drinker, and of speech or actions drunken, as Propertius' drunken signs of flight by night; a Plautine dinner is to be a drunken one.^[3] Lewis and Short note a rare older sense “sated, having had one's fill”, as in Terence.^[5] By transfer it is like a drunk man, exhilarated or distraught, as Lucretius' man staggering under many cares, and of things soaked or swimming, as Matius' rugs drunk with dye.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “drunk, drunken”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius.^[2][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of feigned drunkenness.^[3][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence in the sense “sated”.^[5][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a man reeling under cares.^[3][4]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of drunken signs.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Drunk, intoxicated; drunken, riotous.^[3][1][6]
2. Sated, full.^[5][1]
3. Exhilarated, distraught (as if drunk).^[3]
4. (of things) Soaked (with).^[3]

Word family

• ēbriācus
• ēbrietās
• ēbriolus
• ēbriōsus
• ēbriō
• sōbrius

Related words

• ēbriāmen
• ēbriolātus
• ēbriōsitās
• inēbriō

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts ēbrietās, drunkenness seen in its most favourable light as exhilaration and inspiration, with vīnolentia, the immoderate use of wine as a vice;^[7] ēbrius is someone drunk at the moment, ēbriōsus a habitual drunkard.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper