erubesco

Forms

ērubēscō (present infinitive ērubēscere, perfect active ērubuī); third conjugation, no supine stem^[1] Manuscripts of Seneca, Ambrose and Jerome also spell it ērubisc-.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from ex- (“out”) and rubēscō (“to grow red”), the inchoative of rubeō (“to be red”).^[3][2][1] De Vaan derives the root of ⟨rubeō⟩ and ruber (“red”) from Proto-Italic *ruþro- (“red”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁rudʰ-ró- (“red”), cognate with Umbrian rufru (“red”), Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (eruthrós, “red”) and Sanskrit रुधिर (rudhirá-, “red, bloody”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is Plautus' Truculentus: “I blushed, poor me, because of your shouting”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is above all to blush for shame, to feel ashamed: with the ablative of the cause, as Livy's “there is nothing I need blush for”, with in and the ablative, as Cicero's thing “at which even peasants would blush”, and with the infinitive, as Virgil's Muse who “did not blush to dwell in the woods”.^[3] Transitively it is to be ashamed of or to respect someone, as the invective against Sallust ascribed to Cicero, whose speaker “did not blush before your faces”.^[3][6] In general it is to grow red, as Ovid's cheeks and stones reddened with roses.^[3][6]

Church Latin glosses it “be ashamed, blush, grow red”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of blushing for shame.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero with in and the ablative.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil with the infinitive.^[3][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of reddening in general.^[3][6][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To blush for shame, feel ashamed (of, to); (transitive) to feel shame before, respect.^[3][1][7]
2. To become red, redden.^[3][1][6]

Word family

• erubescentia
• erubescibilis

Related words

• rubēscō
• rubeō
• ruber
• pudet
• English erubescent

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ 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
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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson