obsaepio

Forms

obsaepiō (present infinitive obsaepīre, perfect active obsaepsī, supine obsaeptum); fourth conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + saepiō (“to fence in”),^[2][3][1] also spelled ⟨obsēp-⟩ and ⟨obsīp-⟩.^[2] De Vaan lists saepiō among the derivatives of saepēs (“hedge, fence”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Plautus and Caecilius on.^[3] In the Pseudolus a road is said to be completely blocked (oppido obsaeptast via), and in the Casina a passage is found obsaeptum.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to block a road or passage, as in Livy's obsaeptis itineribus.^[2][5] Figuratively Cicero speaks of things that closed the way to winning office, and Livy of barring the plebs' path to the curule magistracies.^[5][6] A decree of the Senate quoted by Frontinus has the form obsepit in a prohibition.^[5]

It was also used of enclosing a space with a barrier (Apuleius has a storehouse shut with strong bolts), of mouths sealed by long servitude (Pliny the Younger), and of hemming people in (Lucan).^[2] Lewis and Short cite the old form obsipio from Caecilius.^[5] The glossaries have the vulgar participles obsetus and obsitus.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a blocked road.^[3][2][7]
• 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius uses the old form obsipio.^[5][3][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it figuratively of a blocked path to office.^[5][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of blocked roads and of barring the plebs.^[5][7]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a storehouse shut with bolts.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To block, obstruct (a road, a passage); (figurative) to bar.^[2][5]
2. To enclose or shut off with a barrier, seal up; to stop (the mouth).^[2]
3. To shut in, hem in; to shield with a barrier.^[2]

Word family

• inobsaeptus

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de