Etymologically
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expavesco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛk.spaˈweːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ek.spaˈvɛs.ko][1]

Forms

expavēscō (present infinitive expavēscere, perfect active expāvī); third conjugation, no supine stem[1] It is also spelled expavisco, and Priscillian has exspavesco.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + pavēscō (“to become frightened”), an inchoative verb.[3][2][1] De Vaan derives paveō (“to be afraid”) from Proto-Italic *paw-ē- (“to be frightened”) and Proto-Indo-European *pou-eh₁- (“to fear”), preferring Schrijver's link with Celtic nouns for fear to the older view that it was the stative of paviō (“to strike”).[4] Cognate with Old Irish omun (“fear”) and Old Irish úath (“fear”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short think it perhaps not used before Augustus.[5] Its first example in the OLD is Horace's Cleopatra, who did not take fright at the sword like a woman.[3]

Semantic evolution

Intransitively it means to become frightened or begin to be afraid, as Celsus writes that a sudden fright can help in a certain illness;[3][5] Pliny the Elder has it of people suddenly terrified.[3][5] With an accusative it is to take fright at, as Horace's sword and the axe brought to someone's neck.[3] Church Latin glosses it to tremble, be terrified.[6]

Timeline

  • 65–8 BC – Horace of Cleopatra not fearing the sword.[3][7]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of a sudden fright as a remedy.[3][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of sudden terror.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To become frightened, be greatly terrified.[3][5][6][1]
  2. With an accusative, to take fright at, dread.[3][5][1]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 c d e f 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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de