nixor

Forms

nīxor (present infinitive nīxārī, perfect active nīxātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin nītor¹ (“to lean on, strive”), a frequentative formed with the suffix -tō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucretius,^[2][4] of creatures that can no longer support themselves on their wings (ubi nīxārī nequeunt insistereque ālīs).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word is rare and poetic.^[4] Lucretius uses it of physical support, of the foundations on which life and safety rest,^[2][5] and of straining to push a rock up a hill adversō nīxantem trūdere monte saxum;^[2][5] Virgil uses it of a wounded snake straining with its coils.^[4][5] Stelten records it in Ecclesiastical Latin with the senses “lean upon, strive”.^[6]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of resting on wings and of straining.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a snake straining with its coils.^[4][5][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lean or rest (on), support oneself (with the ablative).^[2][4]
2. (figurative) To depend or rest (on).^[2][4][5]
3. To exert oneself, strive, struggle (to, with the infinitive).^[2][5]

Word family

• nīxābundus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de