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obirascor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word obirascor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
59 BC–17 AD, Livy
Ultimate origin
Latin īrāscor
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin irascor
Latin obirascor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔ.biːˈraːs.kɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [o.biˈras.kor][1]

Forms

obīrāscor (present infinitive obīrāscī, perfect active obīrātus sum); third conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + īrāscor (“to be angry”).[2][3][1] The TLL glosses it as being angry in return or against someone.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as the participle in Livy, of men who, angry with fortune, had abandoned the worship of the gods: fortunae obirati cultum reliquerant deum.[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Seneca has the present participle, of a mind that rages against fortune in despair of its own affairs,[3][4] and the participle of people angry at the powerful and of ambition angry at things that do not give way to it.[3][6] Lewis & Short call it mostly post-Augustan.[4] Apuleius uses it without a dative: people who are spoken ill of take offence.[4][6]

In the 5th century Claudianus Mamertus writes oro quaesoque non obirascaris mihi (“I beg and pray you not to be angry with me”),[6][3] and Avitus has it in a homily.[3]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses the participle of men angry with fortune.[3][4][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses the present participle, of a mind raging against fortune.[3][7]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it absolutely, “take offence”.[4][7]
  • first half of the 5th century AD – Claudianus Mamertus writes non obirascaris mihi.[6][3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (with dative) To be angry with or at, to resent.[2][6]
  2. (absolute) To grow angry, take offence.[2][6]

Word family

  • obiratio

Usage notes

The perfect participle obīrātus is often used as an adjective, “angered, angry”, with a dative: fortūnae obīrātī in Livy, obīrātī potentibus in Seneca.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Obirascor.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/obirascor. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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