Etymologically
Log in

oblecto

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 18:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔbˈɫɛk.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [obˈlɛk.to][1]

Forms

oblectō (present infinitive oblectāre, perfect active oblectāvī, supine oblectātum); first conjugation[1] A deponent oblector is also found.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + lactō (“to allure, entice”), with the vowel weakened as in dēlectō (“to delight”).[3][2][4] De Vaan derives lactō from the stem of laciō (“to draw, entice”), from Proto-Italic *lak-i- (“to draw, pull”); the simple verb is known only from Festus' epitome and may be a nonce form, and Walde and Hofmann's link with laqueus (“noose”) is formally doubtful.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] who in the Asinaria has a slave promise to entertain someone meanwhile.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to delight, amuse, divert or entertain, often with a reflexive pronoun: Plautus also uses it of food, “you delighted your life with dirty bread”.[3][4] With time as object it means to pass time agreeably, to beguile it, as in Caecilius' “enough for me, to spend what is left of my life pleasantly”.[3] Cicero uses it of keeping someone in a pleasant opinion as long as possible.[4] Church Latin glosses it to delight, please, amuse.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of entertaining someone.[3][5][7]
  • 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius of passing time agreeably.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of pleasing someone with an opinion.[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To delight, amuse, divert, entertain.[3][4][6][1]
  2. To pass time agreeably, beguile.[3][1]
  3. To delay, detain.[1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de