Etymologically
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obluctor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔbˈɫuːk.tɔr], [ɔbˈɫʊk.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [obˈluk.tor][1]

Forms

oblū̆ctor (present infinitive oblū̆ctārī, perfect active oblū̆ctātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] The length of the ⟨u⟩ is uncertain.[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + luctor (“to wrestle, struggle”),[2][1][3] like colluctor.[3] De Vaan traces luctor to Proto-Italic *lukto- and Proto-Indo-European *lug-to- (“bent”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek λύγος (lúgos, “withy, twigs”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Virgil on, once in his work;[3] in the Aeneid a speaker struggles with his knees against the opposing sand, genibus adversae obluctor harenae.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to exert pressure against something, to offer resistance or struggle with it, usually with a dative:[2] Columella has it of shrubs, Curtius of a river, and Statius of rocks that resist.[5] Figuratively it is to struggle against conditions: Curtius has a mind always struggling against difficulties and someone still struggling against oblivion, and Lucan has it of death.[5][2] It is also to contend with an opponent, as in Silius' “to contend alone with Fabius”.[2][5] Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan prose.[5] Charisius lists it among verbs of middle meaning.[3]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of struggling against the sand.[2][3][6]
  • 1st century AD – Curtius, of struggling against difficulties and oblivion.[2][5][6]
  • 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus, of contending with Fabius.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To struggle against, offer resistance to.[2][5][1]
  2. (figurative) To struggle against conditions;[2][5] to contend with an opponent.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • obluctatio

References

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