Etymologically
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nodo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈnoː.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈnɔː.do][1]

Forms

nōdō (present infinitive nōdāre, perfect active nōdāvī, supine nōdātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin nōdus (“knot”) + -ō, a verb formed from the noun.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cato's treatise on farming,[3][2] where the vines are to be well furnished with joints (vītēs bene nōdentur).[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the joints of plants (in Pliny the Elder, giant fennel with jointed stalks, and cornel wood cut with notches),[2][4] it meant to tie in a knot: Virgil has hair tied up into gold (crīnēs nōdantur in aurum), and Pliny nets knotted with amber.[2][4] Poets extended it to binding and fettering, as in Ovid's lover with his neck tied in a noose,[2][4] and Statius used it of wrestlers locked together and of a winding stream.[2][4] Ambrose still uses it of animals bound with bands.[4]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of vines furnished with joints.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of hair tied into a knot.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a neck tied in a noose.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of nets knotted with amber.[2][5]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it.[4][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To tie in a knot or knots.[2][3]
  2. (poetic) To bind, fetter; to twist like a knot.[4]
  3. (passive) To be furnished with joints or nodes.[2][3]

Word family

  • adnōdō
  • ēnōdō
  • innōdō
  • nōdāmen
  • nōdātiō
  • renōdō

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 k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de