Etymologically
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obduresco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔb.duːˈreːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ob.duˈrɛs.ko][1]

Forms

obdūrēscō (present infinitive obdūrēscere, perfect active obdūruī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

The OLD analyses it as ob- with dūrus (“hard”) and the inchoative suffix -ēscō,[2][1] the TLL as the same prefix with dūrēscō (“to harden”),[3] and VOLI derives it from obdūrō (“to be persistent”).[4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the adjective, which goes back to Proto-Italic *dūro- and Proto-Indo-European *du(e)h₂-ro- (“far, long”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL find it from Plautus on;[5][3] in the Truculentus the speaker, lying in bed, says he has grown stiff with waiting (exspectandō obdūruī).[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Literally it means to become hard, to harden or solidify: Cato tells the farmer to plough the wettest ground last, before it hardens, and Varro uses it of snails' shells hardening with age.[2][6] Propertius asks whether it would not have been better to turn to stone at the face of the Gorgon.[2][7] Of people it means to become hardened, insensitive or callous, a sense Lewis and Short call the only classical one:[2][8] Cicero says we have grown hardened by habit, and, when the arrival of Philotimus alarmed everyone with him, that he himself had grown numb (ipse obdūruī).[2][9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of growing stiff with waiting.[2][10]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of ground hardening.[2][10]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of snail shells.[2][10]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of becoming callous by habit.[2][10]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of turning to stone.[2][10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To become hard, harden, solidify.[2][6]
  2. (of people) To become hardened, insensitive or callous.[2][8]

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b 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 c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de