illabor

Forms

illābor (present infinitive illābī, perfect active illāpsus sum); third conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + lābor¹ (“to glide, slip”).^[2][3] De Vaan lists lābor¹ among the words placed beside labō (“to totter”), but doubts the connection and leaves it without a further etymology.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero on;^[2] in his work on the nature of the gods he writes of the gullet, into which what the mouth takes in first glides (illābuntur).^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It means to glide or slip into something: in Virgil the wooden horse glides into the middle of the city, Statius uses it of moving through the air, and Pliny the Elder, Lucan and Tacitus of rivers flowing into others.^[5][7][8] Of things that are not material, Cicero uses it of pleasure that flows into the senses, and Virgil in a prayer to glide into the minds of those who pray (animīs illābere nostrīs).^[5][7] It also means to fall or sink on to something: Horace uses it of a tree trunk falling on the head and of the world collapsing in ruins.^[5][6] In Ecclesiastical Latin it can mean to slip into a habit,^[9] and medieval writers used it of landing on a shore, of liquids flowing in and of sounds reaching the ears.^[10] English illapse, from its participle, is recorded from the 1610s.^[11]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of food gliding into the gullet.^[5][12]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the wooden horse gliding into the city.^[5][12]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a falling tree trunk.^[5][12]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a river flowing into another.^[5][12]
• 1610s – English illapse is formed from its participle.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move smoothly into, glide or slip into.^[5][6]
2. (of rivers) To flow into.^[5]
3. (of feelings, gods) To enter, penetrate (the mind, the senses).^[5][7]
4. To fall or sink on to; to collapse.^[5][6]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To slip into (a habit).^[9]

Word family

• illāpsus

Usage notes

It is also spelled inlābor.^[6][1]

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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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 i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de