obtrecto

Forms

obtrectō (present infinitive obtrectāre, perfect active obtrectāvī, supine obtrectātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + tractō (“to drag, handle”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan derives tractō from ⟨tractus⟩, the past participle of trahō (“to draw, drag”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *traχe/o-; its closest cognates are Celtic, such as Old Irish tráig (“ebb, beach”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Cicero, Sallust, Nepos and Livy.^[3] Cicero, in the Tusculan Disputations, defines it as the distress felt when another has the same thing as oneself, and uses it in a speech of those who oppose a law.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It takes a dative or an accusative: Livy has it with the glory or praise of a general, Phaedrus and Tacitus with an accusative.^[3][4][6] In poetry only Phaedrus and Silius Italicus use it.^[3] Suetonius writes that Tiberius belittled Germanicus' achievements as needless.^[4] The Festus epitome has a form obtractat, explained as handling something against the general opinion, and the spellings ⟨abtr-⟩ and ⟨-tract-⟩ also occur.^[3] Christian writers used it of opposition to Christ and the Gospel: Cyprian of the Jews belittling his great works, Hilary of the Pharisees.^[3] Stelten gives the Church Latin sense “disparage, decry”.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero defines it and uses it of opposing a law.^[3][8]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it.^[3][4][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of belittling a general's glory.^[3][8]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius writes of Tiberius belittling Germanicus.^[4][8]
• beginning of 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian uses it of the Jews disparaging Christ's works.^[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To disparage or criticize out of envy or malice; to belittle.^[2][9]
2. To work against, thwart, oppose.^[9][6]

Word family

• obtrectātiō
• obtrectātor
• obtrectātus

Related words

• tractō
• dētrectō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press