Etymologically
Log in

obsero

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 20:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

obsero1 bar, bolt

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɔp.sɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔb.se.ro][1]

Forms

obserō (present infinitive obserāre, perfect active obserāvī, supine obserātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning "to bolt" is from Latin ob- + sera (“bar”) + -ō, a denominal verb.[2][3] De Vaan lists sera (“detachable bar”) and this verb under serō (“to join, string together”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *sere/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ser-e/o- (“to thread, tie together”), comparing Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “to knit together”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Terence, who has a character told to go in and bolt the door from the inside.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is to put a bar across a door, bolt or fasten it, and so to shut off a building: Livy has the houses of the plebs barred.[2][3] Lewis & Short note that neither Cicero nor Caesar uses it.[3] A declamation ascribed to Quintilian has a soul shut up in a prison.[2] Apuleius uses it of blocking the ears or mouth: ears stopped with filth, and barking stopped with a morsel of food.[2] Church Latin glosses it bolt, bar, fasten.[5]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of bolting a door.[2][4][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of barred houses.[2][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of blocked ears.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To bolt, bar, fasten a door; to shut off access to a building; to shut up.[2][3][5][1]
  2. To block, obstruct the ears or mouth; to stop speech.[2]

obsero2 sow, plant

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɔp.sɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔb.se.ro][1]

Forms

obserō (present infinitive obserere, perfect active obsēvī, supine obsitum); third conjugation[1] It is also spelled opserō.[2][3] Accius has the syncopated perfect infinitive obsēsse.[2][3]

Etymology

The verb meaning "to sow" is from Latin ob- + serō (“to sow”).[2][4] De Vaan traces serō to Proto-Italic *si-se/o- (“to sow”) and Proto-Indo-European *si-sh₁-e/o- (“to sow”), a reduplicated present, and compares Lithuanian sė́ti (“to sow”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who speaks of land that gives back less than one has sown.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is to sow or plant seeds, and with an ablative to plant a place with something: Varro describes a natural hedge planted with shrubs or thorns.[2] Figuratively Plautus has it of sowing trouble in someone, and comically of planting punches.[2][3] Church Latin glosses it sow, plant.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sowing seed and of sowing trouble.[2][4][6]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius has the form obsēsse.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a planted hedge.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To sow, plant; to plant a place with something.[2][3][5][1]
  2. Figuratively, to sow trouble, to beget.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de