fruniscor

Forms

frūnīscor (present infinitive frūnīscī, perfect active frūnītus sum); third conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fruor (“to enjoy”), built on the older stem ⟨frūg-⟩ with a nasal and the suffix ⟨-scō⟩, a formation like conquiniscō.^[2][3][4] De Vaan sees in it an earlier nasal present ⟨*frūg-n-e/o-⟩, which may be compared with Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌺𐌽𐌰𐌽 (usbruknan, “to break off”).^[5][1] The stem of that verb goes back to Proto-Italic *frūg-je/o- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg-ie/o- (“to use”).^[5]

Aulus Gellius already explained that it was formed from that verb as ⟨fatīscor⟩ was from ⟨fateor⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[5][2] whose Rudens has hinc tū nisi malum frūnīscī nīl potes, “you can get nothing out of this but a thrashing”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is found before and after the classical period but not in it.^[3] Cato used it and its participle frūnītus, as Festus reports, adding that the word īnfrūnītus shows that frūnītus was once current.^[3][4] Lucilius, Novius and the historian Quadrigarius have it, Metellus Numidicus wrote summā glōriā frūnīscor, with the ablative;^[2][3] Gellius quotes several of these.^[2][3]

Petronius' characters use it (sīc pecūlium tuum frūnīscāris, “so may you enjoy your savings”), and inscriptions say how long someone enjoyed life or freedom.^[2][6] A wall at Pompeii has the form frūnīscārus.^[6] The Christian poet Commodian uses it with the ablative.^[6][7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it with the accusative.^[2][8]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius writes aequē frūnīscor ego ac tū.^[3][8]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it in wishes.^[2][8]
• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius discusses the word and quotes earlier writers.^[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To enjoy, have the benefit of (with the accusative).^[2][3][6]
2. To enjoy (with the ablative).^[2][6][7]

Word family

• īnfrūnītus

Usage notes

The glossaries explain it by fruitur “enjoys”, and one of them says that frūnītus is not Latin.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de