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libo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word libo

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 280/260–before 200 BC, Livius Andronicus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₂le/oibʰ-o-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈliː.boː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈliː.bo][1]

Forms

lībō (present infinitive lībāre, perfect active lībāvī, supine lībātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

De Vaan follows Steinbauer in taking it as a verb made from lībum (“sacrificial cake”), “to make a sacrificial cake”, from Proto-Italic *leifo- (“sacrificial cake”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂le/oibʰ-o-, cognate with Ancient Greek ἀλείφω (aleíphō, “to anoint”).[2][1] The OLD and the TLL instead compare Ancient Greek λείβω (leíbō, “to pour”) and Ancient Greek λοιβή (loibḗ, “libation”); the TLL adds that the ancients heard ⟨lībāre⟩ beside ⟨lībum⟩, but it is uncertain whether they are related.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus,[2] and Cato's De agri cultura has fertum lībandum, a cake to be offered.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is to pour a libation of something, as Virgil's wine “we pour from bowls of gold”, to offer the first part of something, as in Cato, and to pour a libation on an altar.[3][5][1] It is also to pour liquids in a more or less ritual way, as in Ovid, of water sprinkled on clothes and head.[3]

From taking a little it is to sip or nibble, as Lucretius' bees that sip at every flower, to touch lightly or graze, as Ovid's food that she has touched with her fingers, and ōscula lībāre, to kiss.[3][5][1] It is also to pick a choice part, as in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, of one who would gather praise from others' labours, and to diminish or impair, as Lucretius' soul that withdraws diminished.[3][5] Church Latin glosses it “touch, taste, pour out, sacrifice, consecrate”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus.[2]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of offering a cake.[3][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of bees sipping.[3][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a libation from golden bowls.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pour a libation (of); to offer; to consecrate.[3][5][1][6]
  2. To pour, sprinkle (ritually).[3][1]
  3. To sip, taste, nibble.[3][5][1][6]
  4. To touch lightly, graze;[3][1] ōscula lībāre, to kiss.[3]
  5. To pick out (a choice part); to diminish, impair.[3][5]

Word family

  • dēlībō
  • dēlibuō
  • illībātus
  • lībāmen
  • lībāmentum
  • lībātiō
  • lībātor
  • lībātōrium
  • praelībō
  • prōlībō
  • lībum
  • English libation

Usage notes

Libō, Libōnis is a separate word, a Roman cognomen of the Marcii and Scribonii, in Cicero and Horace.[3][5][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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
Cite this entry

“Libo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/libo. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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