libet

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈlɪ.bɛt]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈliː.bet]^[1]

Forms

libet (present infinitive libēre, perfect active libuit or libitus est, supine libitum); second conjugation, impersonal, optionally semi-deponent, no future active participle, no gerund^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *luf-ē- (“to desire”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *lubʰ-éh₁- (“to please”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to love, desire”).^[2][1] The older form lubet shows the original /u/, which was unrounded between a velar /l/ and /b/.^[2][3] Cognate with Oscan loufir (“or”), Sanskrit लुभ्यति (lubhyati, “desires”), Old Church Slavonic любъ (ljubŭ, “dear”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍆𐍃 (liufs, “dear”) and English love.^[2][4][1] De Vaan compares the sense of Oscan “or” and Latin -libet (“any”) with Old Church Slavonic любо (ljubo, “or”), from “one wants”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose Jupiter changes his shape whenever he likes.^[2][4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was impersonal: it pleases, one feels like, with a dative of the person, libet mihi “I want”, alone, with an infinitive, or with a neuter pronoun, dīc quod libet “say what you please”.^[4][6] In the phrase quī libet it meant “any you please”, and it fused into indefinite pronouns such as quīlibet and uterlibet.^[4][2] Its perfect was libuit or libitum est.^[4][7] From the same verb come libēns “willing”, and libīdō “desire, lust”, whose suffix was influenced by cupīdō.^[2]

English libido was borrowed from libīdō in 1892.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[4][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it with an infinitive.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero says he does not feel like fleeing.^[4][5]
• 1892 – English libido is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) It pleases, one feels like, wants.^[4]
2. (with infinitive) One wants to.^[4]
3. (with a relative) Whatever one pleases.^[4]
4. quī libet: any you like, whatever.^[4]

Related words

• lubet
• English love
• English libido

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com