Etymologically
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obsaepio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔpˈsae̯.pi.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [obˈsɛː.pi.o][1]

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