Etymologically
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expolio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈspɔ.li.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈspɔː.li.o][1]

Forms

expoliō (present infinitive expolīre, perfect active expolīvī or expoliī, supine expolītum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + poliō (“to smooth, polish”).[2][1][3] The origin of poliō is unclear: de Vaan rejects or doubts the proposals that link it to polinō or to Germanic words for beating.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,[3] of a house that is well built and finished, and of parents who polish their children's manners and teach them their letters.[2]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense is to smooth or polish a surface: Catullus' little book is polished with pumice, Vitruvius finishes a place with marble, and Pliny the Elder says garments are smoothed with hedgehog skin.[2][4] Cato uses it of villas finished with citron wood and ivory.[2]

Plautus also applies it to adorning oneself.[2][4] In a figurative sense it means to refine a person, as in Cicero's De oratore, and to bring a plan, an argument or a style to perfection, as in Plautus, Cicero, Lucretius and Quintilian.[2][4][5] Plautus once uses it comically for ruining oneself.[4] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to polish or redecorate.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of finishing a house and of refining children.[2][3][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of villas finished with citron wood and ivory.[2][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of arts being perfected.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of refining a person and an argument.[2][7]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus has a book polished with pumice.[2][7]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of finishing with marble.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To smooth down, polish (a surface); to finish (a building) with a smooth surface.[2][4]
  2. To embellish, adorn (a person).[2][4]
  3. To polish, refine (a person's manners or mind).[2][4]
  4. To bring to perfection, give a finish to (a plan, argument or style).[2][4][5]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To polish, redecorate.[6]

Word family

  • expolītiō
  • expolitor

Usage notes

A first-conjugation expoliō, -āre, “to plunder, strip”, is a variant of exspoliō, from spolium.[2][5][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de