Etymologically
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eluctor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eːˈɫuːk.tɔr], [eːˈɫʊk.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈluk.tor][1]

Forms

ēlū̆ctor (present infinitive ēlū̆ctārī, perfect active ēlū̆ctātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + luctor (“to wrestle, struggle”).[2][1] De Vaan explains the simple verb, with some doubt, as a frequentative built on a past participle Proto-Italic *lukto-, from Proto-Indo-European *lug-to- (“bent”), and compares Ancient Greek λύγος (lúgos, “withy, twigs”); if this is right, he finds it striking that the vowel shows no trace of lengthening.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short think it was perhaps not used before Augustus.[4] The earliest quotation in the OLD is from Virgil's Georgics, of water that will force its way out and pass in large drops through wicker.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Livy uses it transitively, of struggling clear of so many strong bands of men;[2][4] Silius has it of crossing the Alps, and Tacitus of men struggling through snow and of overcoming the difficulties of the ground as well as the enemy's courage.[2][4] Seneca uses it of the Nile forcing its way through narrows, and figuratively of having struggled out of a humble birth.[2][5] Tacitus speaks of a man whose words usually seemed to come out with a struggle.[2][4][6]

Statius has a voice breaking through a frenzy.[2][4] The TLL notes that the past participle is the form most used, and records an active ēluctō.[7] Medieval writers used it of bursting out, wrenching oneself free, struggling against something, and figuratively of striving.[8]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of water forcing its way out.[2][9]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it transitively.[2][9]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the Nile and of a humble birth overcome.[2][9]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of snow, rough ground and halting words.[2][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To struggle clear of, force one's way through or over;[2][4] (figurative) to surmount, overcome (difficulties).[2][4]
  2. To force (a way) out or up.[2][4]
  3. (intransitive) To force one's way out or up, struggle out.[2][4]
  4. (Medieval Latin) To wrench oneself free; to strive.[8]

Word family

  • ēlū̆ctābilis
  • inēlū̆ctābilis

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de