obsido

Forms

obsīdō (present infinitive obsīdere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + sīdō (“to sit down, settle”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists it among the compounds of sīdō, which goes back to Proto-Italic *sizd-e/o- (“to sit down”) and Proto-Indo-European *si-sd-e/o- (“to sit down”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Lucilius, who uses it of disease: “lest decay beset the ear” (nē auriculam obsīdat cariēs).^[2][5] De Vaan dates it only from Lucretius.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is military, to besiege or blockade: Catullus writes of besieging the walls of Troy in a long war, and Sallust of men secretly occupying a bridge to bar the way.^[2][6] Virgil uses it of blocking a pass with armed men,^[2] and Lucretius of thick air that fills every pore and blocks the paths of the eyes.^[2][5] From this it came to mean to occupy or take possession of: Lucretius uses it of things that occupy certain parts, Virgil of occupying the lands of Italy, and Tibullus of a raider who wants to seize vast plains.^[2][7] Lewis and Short call it mostly poetic.^[5] Georges gives it the perfect obsēdī and the participle obsessum,^[8] and VOLI warns against confusing its forms with those of obsideō.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of disease besetting the ear.^[2][9]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of air blocking the eyes.^[4][2][9]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of besieging Troy.^[2][9]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of occupying a bridge.^[2][9]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of occupying the lands of Italy.^[2][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To besiege, beleaguer.^[2][7]
2. To occupy a place so as to bar a passage, blockade.^[2][8]
3. To occupy, take possession of.^[2][7]
4. (of disease) To beset, afflict.^[2][8]

Usage notes

The TLL treats obsīdō under obsideō “to sit, remain”.^[10][3]

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 k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften