meo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈme.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɛː.o]^[1]

Forms

meō (present infinitive meāre, perfect active meāvī, supine meātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *mejo-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂mey- (“to exchange”).^[2][1] De Vaan thinks the verb may be denominal, from a noun meaning “movement, passage”; a deverbal formation is less likely because it is intransitive.^[2] Cognates include Sanskrit मयते (mayate, “alternates”) and Middle Welsh ⟨tremyn-⟩ “to go past”.^[2] The OLD compares Polish ⟨mijam⟩ and Welsh ⟨mynet⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius, and the OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus.^[2][3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to go, pass, travel, and transitively to pass through, traverse.^[3] Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan in prose, citing Horace's quō simul meāris.^[5] Its compounds were more common: commeāre “to go regularly” from Plautus on, praetermeāre and remeāre, and the noun meātus “course” from Lucretius on.^[2] It survives in Italian meare.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[2][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it.^[5][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go, pass, travel.^[3]
2. (transitive) To pass through, traverse.^[3]

Word family

• admeō
• circummeo
• commeō
• dēmeō
• emeo
• immeō
• intermeō
• meābilis
• meāculum
• meātor
• meātus
• permeō

Related words

• moenia
• mūnus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press