intueor

Forms

intueor (present infinitive intuērī, perfect active intuitus sum); second conjugation, deponent^[1] Plautus and Terence also have third-conjugation forms, intuor.^[2][3] Lucretius splits it in tmesis, inque tuērī, and Ennius has an archaic indo tuētur.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- (“on, at”) + tueor (“to look at, watch over”).^[2][3][1][4] De Vaan reconstructs tueor as Proto-Italic *-tow-ē- (“to protect”), and tentatively Proto-Indo-European *touh₂-eie-, cognate with Sanskrit तवीति (tavīti, “is strong”); the old participle is tūtus (“safe”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has mē intuētur gemēns, “he looks at me, groaning”, and nūllam … illīc cornīcem intuor, “I see no crow there”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Intuērī is “to fix one's gaze on, look at, watch” (Terence: quisnam hic adulēscēns est quī intuētur nōs?, “who is this young man staring at us?”), and with animō to see with the mind's eye.^[2][3][1] It is to examine, inspect (Cicero of the Assyrians observing the sky), to look to someone for guidance, and to witness, see.^[2] Of things it is “to face, look towards” (Pliny the Elder of the heliotrope following the sun).^[2] Figuratively it is “to consider, contemplate” and “to have regard to, bear in mind”, and also “to look at with admiration”.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “to consider, look at, gaze upon, behold”.^[6] English intuit comes from its participle stem in 1776, first as “to tutor”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: mē intuētur gemēns.^[2][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: quī intuētur nōs?.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of observing the sky.^[2][7]
• 1776 – English intuit.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To look at, gaze at, watch.^[2][3][1][6]
2. To examine, inspect.^[2]
3. To look to (for guidance or help).^[2]
4. To see, witness.^[2]
5. To face, look towards (of things).^[2]
6. To consider, contemplate; to bear in mind.^[2][1][6]
7. To look at with admiration, admire.^[1]

Word family

• intuitiō
• intuitus

Related words

• circumtueor
• contueor
• obtueor
• tueor
• English intuition

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de