Etymologically
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ebrius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈeː.bri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛː.bri.us][1]

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
  • 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