obruo

Forms

obruō (present infinitive obruere, perfect active obruī, supine obrutum); third conjugation^[1] An inscription has the passive infinitive obrī for obruī.^[2][3] Manuscripts also have the spellings abr- and orr-.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- (“over, against”) + ruō (“to rush, fall”).^[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it under ruō “to rush”, which he traces to Proto-Italic *rowe/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃rew- (“to run, hurry”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius.^[5] Cato uses it in his recipes: sale obruitō tōtam (pernam), “cover the whole ham with salt”, and of grapes buried in earth.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Obruō is to cover thickly (with salt, dust), to cover with earth, bury (also alive), and to bury under a mass of debris or snow (Cicero: the buried altars of the Albans, Livy).^[2][3] Transferred, it is to crush or overwhelm an opponent (Cicero, of overwhelming Scaevola with arguments), to overwhelm with waves, to sink a ship or drown a person (Virgil: obrue puppēs), and to overwhelm with troubles or business (Pacuvius: aerumnīs obruta, Cicero).^[2][1] Lucretius once uses it intransitively, “to collapse”.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “bury, overwhelm, cover over”.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[5][7]
• 234–149 BC – Cato: sale obruitō.^[2][7]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius: aerumnīs obruta.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: obrue puppēs.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cover over, smother (with).^[2][3][1][6]
2. To bury.^[2][1][6]
3. To overwhelm, crush, overpower.^[2][3][1][6]
4. To sink (a ship), drown.^[2]
5. To overwhelm (with troubles); to conceal.^[2][1]

Word family

• adobruo
• circumobruō
• exobruō
• inobrutus
• sēmiobrutus
• superobruō

Related words

• ruō
• ruīna
• corruō

References

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