libro

Forms

lībrō (present infinitive lībrāre, perfect active lībrāvī, supine lībrātum); first conjugation^[1] An old inscription spells it leibr-.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb from Latin lībra (“balance, pound”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces lībra to Proto-Italic *leiþra- (“pound”), and thinks the name of the Sicilian coin Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra) was borrowed from an Italic language.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato,^[4] who says an oil mill should be set level with the rims.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to make level, and in Vitruvius to give a channel an even fall.^[2][5] It is also to hold suspended or balance, as in Cicero's question by what weights the earth is balanced, and Virgil's bees that steady themselves with little stones as they fly.^[2] Above all it is to poise a weapon before throwing it, to aim, as in Virgil's boxer who aimed his glove between the horns.^[2] Germanicus uses it of bringing things into balance, and Persius of weighing charges in neat antitheses.^[2]

Döderlein distinguishes librare hastam, to raise the spear level in order to throw it with more force and a surer aim, from vibrāre, to brandish it in eagerness for the fight.^[6] Church Latin glosses it “weigh, balance, poise”.^[7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of setting a mill level.^[2][4][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the earth balanced in space.^[2][8]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of bees balancing and of aiming a blow.^[2][8]
• 34–62 AD – Persius of weighing charges.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make level; to give an even slope.^[2][5]
2. To balance, hold suspended, poise.^[2][5][1]
3. To poise a weapon for throwing, aim; to hurl.^[2][5][1]
4. To bring into equilibrium.^[2]
5. To weigh in the mind, ponder; to gauge.^[2][1]

Word family

• collībrō
• dēlibrō
• lībrāmen
• lībrāmentum
• lībrātiō
• lībrātor
• libratura
• lībritor
• perlībrō
• lībrātē
• lībrātus

Related words

• lībra
• dēlīberō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de