hisco

Forms

hīscō (present infinitive hīscere); third conjugation, no perfect or supine stems^[1] The OLD prints the head as hiscō, with a short i.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin hiō (“to gape”) + -scō.^[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of hiō, which he traces to Proto-Italic *χi-ā-; his reconstruction for the verb with the inchoative suffix is Proto-Indo-European *ǵhih1-sḱé- (“to gape, be wide open”).^[3] He compares Lithuanian žióti (“to open the mouth”) and Old High German ginēn (“to be wide open”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.^[3] In the Pseudolus someone hushes another because the house is opening: st! tace, aedes hiscunt.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It means to open, gape or split open, as cracks gape in Lucretius and the earth in Ovid.^[2][4] In the metrist Terentianus Maurus it is to form a hiatus.^[2] Most often it is to open the mouth to speak, as the least one can do: Accius has a captive afraid to open her mouth, in the Philippics Cicero asks whether his opponent will dare even to open his mouth, and Livy has consuls unable to utter a word.^[2] With an object it is to utter, as in Ovid and Juvenal, and Propertius uses it of singing of kings' deeds.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a house opening.^[2][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius, of opening the mouth to speak.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of daring to open one's mouth.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To (begin to) open, gape, split open.^[2][4][1]
2. To open the mouth to speak; to mutter.^[2][4][1]
3. To utter, say; to sing of.^[2][1]

Word family

• dehīscō
• inhisco
• circumhīscō

Related words

• hiō
• hiātus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de