Etymologically
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obruo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɔb.ru.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔb.ru.o][1]

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

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