Etymologically
Log in

epoto

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 20:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eːˈpoː.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈpɔː.to][1]

Forms

ēpōtō (present infinitive ēpōtāre, perfect active ēpōtāvī, supine ēpōtum); first conjugation[1] Plautus has the spelling expōtus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + pōtō (“to drink”).[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of pōtus (“drunk”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *pōto- (“drunk”) and Proto-Indo-European *peh₃- (“to drink”); the full grade of the participle was taken from the root aorist.[4] Cognates include Sanskrit पीत (pītá-, “drunk”), the Aeolic imperative Ancient Greek πῶθι (pôthi, “drink!”) and Lithuanian puotà (“drinking-bout”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,[4][3] in the spelling expōtus: in the Trinummus money is said to have been eaten and drunk away (comēsum, expōtum).[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin only the past participle is used; the first finite form is in Martial.[2][3][7] Cicero has a poison drunk down and a cup drained, Livy a drug, Quintilian a potion and Suetonius an amphora.[8][5] Pliny the Elder tells of three congii drunk at one go.[6]

Poets use it of things that soak up or swallow liquid: Lucretius of the sun and heat drinking up all moisture, Ovid of Charybdis spewing out the waters it has swallowed and of a river swallowed by a chasm, and Martial of cloaks that have absorbed purple dye.[2][6] Later Trebellius Pollio has the participle ēpōtātus and Sidonius the future participle ēpōtātūrus;[7][5] the Vulgate uses it in Ezekiel.[8] Medieval writers also used it of soaking up, of evaporating and of watering animals.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the spelling expōtus.[2][10]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the sun drinking up moisture.[2][10]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a poison and a cup.[8][10]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Charybdis and of a river swallowed by the earth.[2][10]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial has the first finite form.[2][3][10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drink down, drain; to empty (a vessel) by drinking.[2][8]
  2. To squander on drink.[5][6]
  3. (of things) To absorb (liquid); to swallow up, engulf.[2][8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) To evaporate; to water (animals).[9]

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 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. ^ a b c 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 d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de