eructo

Forms

ērū̆ctō (present infinitive ērū̆ctāre, perfect active ērū̆ctāvī, supine ērū̆ctātum); first conjugation^[1] The TLL also records the spelling ēructuō and deponent forms.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ērūgō (“to belch”), with the frequentative suffix -tō, as the OLD analyses it;^[3] Wiktionary allows either that or a compound of ē- and ructō (“to belch”), both from the same root.^[1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the verb ⟨-rūgō⟩, which goes back to Proto-Italic *roug-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁reuǵ-e/o- (“to belch”).^[4] Paul's epitome of Festus, as the TLL reports, made it the frequentative of ⟨ērūgere⟩: that verb meant a single belch, this one repeated belching.^[2]

Cognate with Ancient Greek ἐρεύγομαι (ereúgomai, “to belch out, vomit”), Lithuanian ráugėti (“to belch”) and Old English rocettan (“to belch”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it from Varro on,^[4] who speaks of thin nozzles that spout water, quae ēructent aquam.^[3] Cicero, in the same period, uses it of belching, and figuratively of drunken men who “belch out” the slaughter of good citizens in their talk.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Of people and animals it means to bring up food or drink noisily: Virgil has saniem ēructāns, vomiting gore and morsels mixed with wine, and Pliny the Elder uses it of a sea monster spouting a flood.^[3] More often it is used of natural forces that throw something up violently: Lucretius has Tartarus belching heat from its jaws, Virgil has Etna hurling up rocks and a whirlpool spewing sand.^[3][5] It could also mean simply to emit or exhale, of a smell or of fumes.^[5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to utter or pour forth words, as in the Vulgate's Gospel of Matthew and Psalms,^[5] and also to declare or publish.^[6] English eructate was formed in the 1630s from its past participle.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of nozzles spouting water.^[3][8]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius has Tartarus belching heat.^[3][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of belching and of drunken talk.^[3][5][8]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of vomiting and of Etna.^[3][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for uttering words.^[5][8]
• 1630s – English forms eructate from its past participle.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To belch out, bring up noisily (food or drink); to vomit.^[3][5]
2. (figurative) To belch out (something) in drunken talk.^[3][5]
3. Of natural forces, to throw up or discharge violently.^[3][5]
4. To emit, exhale.^[5]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To utter, pour forth; to declare, publish.^[5][6]

Related words

• ructō
• ructus
• English eructate

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de