exubero

Forms

exūberō (present infinitive exūberāre, perfect active exūberāvī, supine exūberātum); first conjugation^[1] Also spelled exsubero and exhubero in manuscripts.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + ūberō, a compound of the verb made from ūber (“udder; abundant”).^[3][1][2] De Vaan lists it under the noun, which goes back to Proto-Italic *ouþ-r- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁ouHdʰ-r (“udder”); the adjective ⟨ūber⟩ “abundant” is mostly explained as the noun used adjectivally, though Sihler posits an i-stem meaning “abundant”.^[4]

The noun is cognate with Ancient Greek οὖθαρ (oûthar, “udder”), Sanskrit ऊधर् (ū́dhar, “udder”) and Old English ūder (“udder”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Accius,^[4] who has sub eo saxo exuberans scatebra, a spring welling up under that rock.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, of liquids, is to flow copiously or gush up: Virgil has a river foaming high, alte spumis exuberat amnis.^[3][6][5] More generally it is to be abundant or fruitful: Virgil uses it of shade spreading with a luxuriance of leaves and of a year rich in fruit.^[3][6][5] Tacitus says that eloquence wells up and overflows from much learning, Gellius uses it of a body grown immoderately, and Suetonius of profit.^[6][5] Columella uses it transitively, to make abundant,^[3][6] and Tertullian has it for outnumbering: the Scythians exceed the Persians.^[6][5] The participle exuberans means superfluous in Quintilian.^[6]

Ecclesiastical dictionaries give it as abound, make full.^[7]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of a gushing spring.^[3][8]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a foaming river and of abundant fruit.^[3][6][8]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it transitively, to make abundant.^[3][8]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of overflowing eloquence.^[6][8]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it in the sense “to outnumber”.^[6][5][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of liquids) To flow copiously, gush up, overflow.^[3][5]
2. To be abundant, abound; to be fruitful, grow luxuriantly.^[3][6][7]
3. (transitive) To make abundant.^[3][6]
4. (Late Latin, transitive) To exceed in number, outnumber.^[6][5]

Word family

• exūberantia
• exuberatio

Related words

• ūber
• ūbertās

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 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 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 k l 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
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de