eripio

Forms

ēripiō (present infinitive ēripere, perfect active ēripuī, supine ēreptum); third (-iō variant) conjugation^[1] Plautus has the perfect ērupuī, and Manilius the participle ēruptus.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- + rapiō (“to seize”), “to snatch out”, with the vowel weakened in the compound.^[2][3][1] De Vaan derives rapiō from Proto-Italic *rapi- (“to seize”) and a PIE zero grade Proto-Indo-European *h₁rp-i-, perhaps of a root *h₁rep-; he compares Ancient Greek ἐρέπτομαι (eréptomai, “to devour, snatch away”) and Albanian rjep (“to tear off, rob”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan lists it among the Plautine compounds of rapiō.^[4] Plautus uses it of tearing out eyes (oculōs ēripiam tibi, “I'll pull your eyes out”) and of rescuing someone by force (ego accurrō tēque ēripiō vī, “I run up and snatch you away by force”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is “to snatch, pull or tear out, away or off”, from a place, from someone's hands or body.^[2][3] It is used of seizing property by force, of death or circumstances snatching a person away, of clouds hiding something from view, and with abstract objects, “to take away” hope, a right or the power to do something, or “to banish” a fear.^[2] From the start it also means “to rescue, deliver” from danger, and reflexively “to escape”;^[2][3] sē ēripere also means “to burst into view”.^[2][3] In chariot-racing inscriptions it is used of a driver who takes the lead after a struggle.^[2]

Church Latin uses it mostly in the sense “to rescue, deliver from”.^[5] The proverb lupō agnum ēripere, “to snatch a lamb from a wolf”, stands for attempting the impossible.^[2][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: oculōs ēripiam tibi and tēque ēripiō vī.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero to Catiline: hunc mihi timōrem ēripe, “rid me of this fear”.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: ēripiam mē ex istōrum parricīdiō, of escaping in a small boat.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To snatch, tear or pull out, away or off.^[2][3][1]
2. To seize (property) by force, carry off, rob.^[2][1]
3. To snatch (a person) away (from work or friends; also by death); to hide from view.^[2][1]
4. To take away (a power, right or hope); to banish (a fear).^[2]
5. To rescue, deliver, save.^[2][3][1][5]
6. (reflexive) To escape;^[2] to burst into view.^[2]
7. (chariot-racing) To take the lead after a struggle.^[2]

Word family

• ēreptiō
• ēreptor

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts dēmō, adimō and eximō, which denote taking away without force or fraud, with verbs of violent taking.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper