oborior

Forms

oborior (present infinitive oborīrī, perfect active obortus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + orior (“to rise”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces orior to Proto-Italic *or-i- (“to rise”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃r-i- (“to rise”), comparing Umbrian ortom est (“has arisen”) and Hittite arai- (“to rise, lift”).^[4] Paul the Deacon's Festus explains it as “is born”, saying that ob stands here for ad.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4] Ennius has darkness rising to take away all view.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to spring up before the eyes, especially so as to cover something, as darkness or mist does, and it is the usual verb for welling tears, as when Virgil writes of a lap filled with tears that have welled up.^[2][5] Ovid uses it of stone spreading over a body.^[2] Transferred, it is said of feelings and states that suddenly arise, as joy in Terence, and of events, such as an earthquake in Lucretius.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[4][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of rising darkness.^[2][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of sudden joy.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of welling tears.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To arise, spring up into view; of tears, to well up.^[2][5][7][1]
2. Of feelings, thoughts and events, to arise, occur.^[2][1]

References

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