marito

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [maˈriː.toː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [maˈriː.to]^[1]

Forms

marītō (present infinitive marītāre, perfect active marītāvī, supine marītātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin marītus (“husband; married”) + -ō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan reconstructs ⟨marītus⟩ as Proto-Italic ⟨*mareito-⟩ “having a young woman”, from Proto-Indo-European *mor-(e)i- (“young woman”), cognate with Welsh morwyn (“maiden”) and Ancient Greek μεῖραξ (meîrax, “girl, youth”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Varro, of mating animals.^[2] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to mate or pair animals and birds, as in Varro; to join vines to the trees that support them, as in Horace; to fertilize plants, as in Pliny; and, post-Augustan, to give in marriage, marry, and in the passive to get married, as in Tacitus and Suetonius.^[2][6][7]

English marry (c. 1300) is from it through Old French marier.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of animals.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of vines and trees.^[2][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of marriage.^[2][5]
• c. 1300 – English marry is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To marry, give in marriage.^[2][6]
2. To mate (animals).^[2]
3. To fertilize (plants).^[2]
4. To wed (vines to trees).^[2]

Related words

• marītus
• marīta
• mātrimōnium
• English marry

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com