Etymologically
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libro

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈliː.broː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈliː.bro][1]

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

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