Etymologically
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molior

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmoː.li.ɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔː.li.or][1]

Forms

mōlior (present infinitive mōlīrī or mōlīrier, perfect active mōlītus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent[1] Lucretius has the infinitive mōlīrier.[2][1] An active mōliō is also found.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from mōlēs (“mass, bulk; great effort”).[3][4][1] De Vaan sets up a Proto-Italic noun or adjective ⟨*mōlo-⟩ “labour, effort” with a verb ⟨*mōl-i-je-⟩ “to labour”; since ⟨mōlēs⟩ is attested later than the verb, it may also have been formed from it.[5] He relates molestus through an s-stem ⟨*melos⟩ “trouble”, and notes that this rules out the derivation from ⟨*m(e)h₃-l-⟩ in LIV.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Bacchides: īnsānum magnum mōlior negōtium, “I am setting up a mad, huge piece of business”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb expresses effort against weight: to labour to bring something about, to strive (Plautus: viden ut miserē mōliuntur?, “see how hard they struggle?”), and to build something large, such as the walls and citadel of Carthage in Virgil.[3][1] It also means to set in motion with effort: to hurl missiles, to get a fleet under way, to wield an axe, to weigh anchor (Livy), to stir the soil with iron (Lucretius).[3] Figuratively it is to rouse a person, to unsettle someone's loyalty, to make one's way with difficulty (Livy of Hannibal), and to force something from its place.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “plot, undertake, devise, practise”, and Wiktionary adds “to attempt, stir up”.[6][1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of engineering a scheme and of struggling.[3][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of working the fields.[3][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of building a citadel.[3][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of weighing anchor and of Hannibal on the move.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To labour to bring about, engineer, undertake.[3][1]
  2. To make efforts, strive, toil.[3][1]
  3. To build, construct (something large).[3][1]
  4. To set in motion; to hurl; to wield; to shift, stir.[3][1]
  5. To rouse; to unsettle; to stir up, plot.[3][1][6]
  6. To make one's way with effort.[3]
  7. To force from its place.[3]

Word family

  • admōlior
  • āmōlior
  • commōlior
  • dēmōlior
  • ēmōlior
  • mōlīmen
  • mōlīmentum
  • mōlītiō
  • obmōlior
  • praemōlior
  • remōlior

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de