Etymologically
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obeo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɔ.be.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔː.be.o][1]

Forms

obeō (present infinitive obīre, perfect active obiī or obīvī, supine obitum); irregular conjugation[1] Virgil has the perfect obīvit.[2][3] Ennius has the lengthened present obīnunt.[4][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ob- (“towards, against”) + eō (“to go”).[2][1] De Vaan traces eō to Proto-Italic *ei- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”), and notes the Ennian form ⟨obīnunt⟩.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Aulularia: ubi is obiit mortem quī mī id aurum crēdidit, “when the man who entrusted that gold to me met his death”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is going to meet something: to come up against rivals (Quintus Cicero), and to visit a place to inspect it, as Ennius' Acherontem obībō, “I will visit Acheron”.[2] From this it means surveying with the eyes, in speech or in the mind, and, of seas, enclosing lands (Virgil).[2] It is to take on a task or office, as on the day a magistrate entered office, to meet one's bail (vadimōnia obīre), and to keep an appointment or attend a function.[2]

The phrases mortem obīre and diem (suprēmum) obīre, “to meet one's death”, are already in Plautus.[2] Later obīre alone came to mean “to die”, as an inscription records, and of things to perish.[2] Of stars it is to set, as Orion and the Hare in Cicero's Aratea.[2] Döderlein lists obīre mortem among the expressions for dying.[5] Church Latin glosses it “die, fulfill, perform”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: mortem obīre and diem obīre, “to die”.[2][7]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: Acherontem obībō.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of stars setting and of keeping appointments.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of surveying and of seas enclosing lands.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To meet, come up against; to visit (to inspect).[2][1]
  2. To survey, review (with the eyes, in speech or thought).[2][1]
  3. To surround, enclose.[2]
  4. To take on, undertake (a task or office); to perform.[2][1][6]
  5. To attend; to keep (an appointment); (law) to meet (one's bail).[2]
  6. (with mortem or diem) To meet one's death;[2][1][6] (intransitive) to die, perish.[2][1][6]
  7. (of heavenly bodies) To set.[2][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  6. ^ a b c d 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