inspuo

Forms

inspuō (present infinitive inspuere, perfect active inspuī, supine inspūtum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + spuō (“to spit”).^[2][3] De Vaan traces the simple verb to Proto-Indo-European *sp(i)uH-ie/o- (“to spit”), an onomatopoeic formation whose beginning was probably reshaped in several languages.^[4]

The simple verb is cognate with Ancient Greek πτύω (ptúō, “to spit”) and Lithuanian spiáuti.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Seneca, who tells of an insolent young man spitting on someone, cui adulēscēns prōtervus īnspuit, and of someone found to spit in a man's face.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 1st century AD it meant to spit into or upon something, with a dative or with in and the accusative: Seneca and Petronius use it of spitting at or in someone's face,^[2][6] Lucan uses it with a dative,^[2][6] and Suetonius of a claim that sight would be restored by spitting on the eyes.^[2][7] Pliny the Elder uses the impersonal passive in a remedy for an animal that has got into the ear.^[2]

Used transitively, it meant to spit something into something: in Pliny the Elder birds spit salty earth into the mouths of their chicks, and salt is spat into the eyes of draught animals;^[2][7] in Hyginus someone bites off their own tongue and spits it into the king's face.^[2]

In later Latin it also meant to spit upon, cover with spittle, as in the Old Latin Gospels and in Servius.^[6][7][5]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of spitting on someone.^[2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of birds spitting earth into their chicks' mouths.^[2][8]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of spitting into the eyes as a cure.^[2][8]
• c. 400 AD – Servius uses it transitively, “to spit upon”.^[7][5][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To spit into or upon.^[2][7][6]
2. (transitive) To spit (something) into.^[2][7]
3. (Late Latin, transitive) To spit upon, cover with spittle.^[7][6]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de