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elaboro

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word elaboro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Rutilius Rufus
Ultimate origin
Latin (labor)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin laboro
Latin elaboro

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eː.ɫaˈboː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [e.laˈbɔː.ro][1]

Forms

ēlabōrō (present infinitive ēlabōrāre, perfect active ēlabōrāvī, supine ēlabōrātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + labōrō (“to work, toil”),[2][3] from labor (“toil”).[1] De Vaan finds unconvincing the usual hesitant link between labor and labō (“to totter”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Thesaurus finds the intransitive use from Rutilius Rufus, the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero, and the transitive use from Cicero; among the poets only Horace has it, twice.[3]

Semantic evolution

Intransitively it is to take pains or exert oneself, as in Cicero's “I will urge him to make an effort”, and Lewis & Short note that Cicero uses it most often.[2][5] Transitively it is to work something out with care and effort, to perfect or elaborate a literary work or a skill, as Cicero's speeches “worked out with care and burning of the midnight oil”.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “elaborate, work out, take pains with”.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, intransitively and transitively.[2][3][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it twice.[3][7]
  • 1590s – Its past participle gives English elaborate.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To take pains, strive, exert oneself.[2][5][1]
  2. To work out with care, perfect, elaborate.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • ēlabōrātiō
  • ēlabōrātus
  • inēlabōrātus

References

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

“Elaboro.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/elaboro. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·