Etymologically
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eluo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈeː.ɫu.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɛː.lu.o][1]

Forms

ēluō (present infinitive ēluere, perfect active ēluī, supine ēlūtum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + luō (“to wash”), a variant of lavō.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Plautus, whose cook is told to wash the vessels clean inside.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to wash clean or rinse, as dishes and silver plate in Plautus, and to wash out or off, as stains, and by ritual washing to purge away guilt.[2][5] Of water it meant to wash away land, as in Seneca.[2] In a comic sense it meant to lose all one's property, to be “cleaned out”.[2]

English elute and English eluviate come from it.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of washing dishes.[2][4]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of water washing away land.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To wash clean, rinse.[2]
  2. To wash out or off; to purge away (guilt).[2]
  3. (of water) To wash away.[2]
  4. To be “cleaned out”, lose all one's property.[2]

Word family

  • eluacrus
  • elutio
  • ēluviēs
  • ēluviō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press