Etymologically
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hisco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈhiːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈis.ko][1]

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

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