everbero

Forms

ēverberō (present infinitive ēverberāre, perfect active ēverberāvī, supine ēverberātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + verberō¹ (“to beat, flog”).^[2][1] That verb comes from verber (“whip, rod”),^[1] which de Vaan finds mostly in the plural ⟨verbera⟩ and traces to an s-stem, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *uerb(h)-es-; he compares Lithuanian vir̃bas (“stick, twig”) and Latvian virbs (“small stick”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Virgil and Ovid on;^[4] in the Aeneid Virgil uses it of beating a shield with the wings.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it rare and not used before Augustus.^[6] Ovid has ashes beaten off with flapping wings and Quintilian an enemy's face and eyes struck with beak and wings;^[6][7][5] Curtius uses it of lashing the sea with oars and of striking someone's face with spears, and Valerius Flaccus of beating the breast.^[6][7] Seneca uses it of water and air whipped up.^[7]

Figuratively Gellius says that a boy's silence spurs a woman to ask questions,^[2][5] and Ammianus has words that kept battering anxious ears.^[6][7] Medieval writers used it in the sense “to shake”.^[8]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of beating a shield with wings.^[4][9]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of beating off ashes.^[6][9]
• 1st century AD – Curtius uses it of lashing the sea with oars.^[6][9]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it figuratively, of spurring the mind.^[2][9]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of words battering the ears.^[6][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To beat or strike violently, lash (with wings, oars or weapons).^[2][6][7]
2. (figurative) To stir, spur (to an action).^[2][10]
3. (figurative) To keep battering (the ears).^[6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) To shake.^[8]

Related words

• verberō¹

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.