frio

Forms

friō (present infinitive friāre, perfect active friāvī, supine friātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *frī̆-ā-, which de Vaan explains as a verb made from an adjective *frio-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰriH-o- (“cut”).^[2] The same adjective, with another suffix, lies behind frīvolus (“worthless”) and refrīvus (“shredded”), and fricō (“to rub”) presupposes an adjective *fri-ko- built beside it.^[2] Cognates are Old Irish ·bria (“to hurt, damage”), Sanskrit भ्रीणन्ति (bhrīṇánti), Avestan pairi.brīna- (“to cut around”) and archaic Czech bříti (“to shave”).^[2] The TLL calls the origin uncertain and also connects it with the adjective for “worthless” and, more doubtfully, with the verb for “rub”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro is its first author: he describes earth that crumbles easily when it is dug.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is used mostly in the passive, of things falling into small pieces: clods of earth in Lucretius, tufa crumbling in frost in Vitruvius, eye salves that should not crumble in Celsus.^[3][4] Pliny the Elder uses it often when testing spices and gums, which should crumble slowly or into fine grains.^[3][4] In the active it means to grind or crush, as when Pliny's Ethiopians grind the dry fruit of the palm into flour, and in the herbals it is said of plants that break up stones in the bladder.^[3] Scribes often wrote it as fricāre, and the TLL finds ⟨friat⟩ for fricat in Pompeii.^[3]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro describes earth that crumbles easily.^[2][3][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius speaks of clods of earth often crumbled.^[3][4][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of tufa crumbling in frost.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of spices, gums and gems.^[3][4][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To break into small pieces, crumble, pulverize.^[6][4][3]
2. (passive or reflexive) To fall into fragments, crumble.^[6][3]

Word family

• affriō
• confriō
• friābilis
• īnfriō
• perfriō

Related words

• frīvolus
• fricō
• refrīvus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press