nato

Forms

natō (present infinitive natāre, perfect active natāvī, supine natātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from nō (“to swim”) with the frequentative suffix -tō.^[2][3] De Vaan explains it as built on a participle ⟨*natos⟩ of that verb, from Proto-Italic *(s)nato- (“bathed”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)nh₂-to-, from the root *(s)neh₂- (“to swim, float”).^[4] Cognate with Old Irish snáïd (“to swim”), Sanskrit स्नाति (snā́ti, “bathes”) and Ancient Greek νήχω (nḗkhō, “to swim”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.^[4] Plautus has it of swimming in the Rudens and of a lot floating on the water in the Casina.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to swim, especially as exercise, as Cicero's “a man so very keen on swimming”, and with the accusative to swim across, as Virgil's lover crossing the straits by night.^[2][5] It is to float, and by extension to lie on a surface, as roots near the surface (Columella), and of birds to glide.^[2] Things are said to swim when drenched, as Lucretius' plains flooded by rivers.^[2]

Figuratively it is to sway or waver, as the balance in the Tibullan corpus, of the eyes to swim, as Virgil's “swimming eyes” closed by sleep, and of persons to be at a loss, as Cicero's “you seemed to me to swim more than Neptune himself”, Varro uses it of usage that keeps changing.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “swim”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of swimming and floating.^[2][4][7]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of fluctuating usage.^[2][7]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of flooded plains.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of wavering.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of swimming eyes.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To swim, (with accusative) to swim across.^[2][1]
2. To float; to lie on a surface, (of birds) to glide.^[2][1]
3. To be drenched, flooded.^[2][1]
4. To sway, rock, (of the eyes) to swim.^[2][1]
5. (of persons) To be at a loss, waver, (of usage) to fluctuate.^[2][1]

Word family

• abnatō
• adnatō
• dēnatō
• ēnatō
• innatō
• natabilis
• natābulum
• natābundus
• natātilis
• natātiō
• natātor
• natātus

Related words

• nō
• English natatorium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de