Etymologically
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maereo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmae̯.re.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɛː.re.o][1]

Forms

maereō (present infinitive maerēre, perfect active maeruī, supine maestum); second conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Proto-Italic *mais- “sad, grief”, perhaps from a form *meh₂is-, but no acceptable Indo-European source has been found.[2][1] It is probably related to miser “wretched”, and its participle maestus “sad” belongs with it.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.[2] Ennius has a crowd “grieving, weeping, shedding tears, lamenting”.[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC and Ennius 204–169 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to be sad, to mourn or grieve, and as a transitive verb to mourn for or bewail, as people mourned Cicero's misfortune.[3] Cicero speaks of the soothing of grief (sēdātiō maerendī).[5] It is also written moereō.[6]

Its derivatives are the noun maeror “grief”, the adjective maestus and maestitia “sadness”.[3][1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][4]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius describes people grieving and weeping.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of people mourning his misfortune.[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be sad, mourn, grieve.[3]
  2. (transitive) To mourn for, bewail.[3]

Word family

  • maerēns
  • maeror
  • maestificō
  • maestificus
  • maestiter
  • maestitia
  • maestitūdō
  • maestō
  • maestus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press