obrepo

Forms

obrēpō (present infinitive obrēpere, perfect active obrēpsī, supine obrēptum); third conjugation^[1] Some manuscripts spell it oprēpō, and a variant obripiō is found.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + rēpō (“to creep”).^[2][3] De Vaan traces rēpō to Proto-Italic *rēp-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁p- (“to creep”), or a root with long ⟨ē⟩, comparing Lithuanian rėplióti (“to creep”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4] In the OLD's quotation Plautus fears that death may creep up meanwhile.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to creep up stealthily, so as to attack or surprise: Tibullus says he could creep in even at midnight.^[2][6] Cicero's son writes of a man who often drops in on them unawares at dinner.^[2] Figuratively it is to approach a task by stealth, as Terentianus Maurus does.^[2] Of conditions it is to come on someone unawares, as death in Plautus.^[2] It is also to slip past one's guard: Seneca shows where a question sneaks in.^[2] Church Latin glosses it to take by surprise, creep upon, steal upon.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of death creeping up.^[2][4][5]
• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus of creeping in at midnight.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a question that sneaks in.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To creep up on, steal up, take by surprise.^[2][6][1][7]
2. To drop in on, pay a surprise visit.^[2]
3. Of conditions, to come on unawares.^[2][1]
4. To slip past one's guard; to deceive.^[2][1]

Word family

• obrepticius
• obreptiō
• obreptiuus

Related words

• rēpō

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 k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson