obtundo

Forms

obtundō (present infinitive obtundere, perfect active obtudī, supine obtūsum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- (“against, upon”) + tundō (“to beat, strike”).^[2][1][3] The verb tundō goes back to Proto-Italic *(s)tund-e/o- (“to thrust”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)tu-n-d- (“to thrust”), a nasal present.^[4]

The prefix is also written ⟨opt-⟩, and the participle has both ⟨obtūsus⟩ and ⟨obtunsus⟩.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[6] first in the literal sense: in the Amphitruo a character complains nam sum obtūsus pugnīs pessumē, “for I've been beaten black and blue with fists”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

L&S notes that the literal “beat, thump” is rare and mostly ante- and post-classical.^[5] From striking it passed to sound beating on the ears, in Lucretius,^[2] and to wearing out the ears or a person with repeated words, “to din into one's ears”, as in Plautus, Cicero and Livy;^[2][5] Cicero speaks of annoying someone with long letters.^[5]

Lucretius also uses it for blunting a weapon.^[2][5] From this came the figurative “to dull, deaden”: Cicero did not want young men's wits to be blunted,^[2] and Pliny speaks of dulling the eyesight and the hearing.^[5] Celsus uses it of ears made deaf in a fever, and Cicero of a voice that has grown hoarse from speaking.^[2] Ecclesiastical Latin has “dull, make blunt, weaken, make weary”.^[7] The participle obtūsus “blunt, dull” is the source of English obtuse.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for beating with fists.^[2][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it for blunting a weapon and for sound striking the ears.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for blunting the wits and for a hoarse voice.^[2][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of deafened ears.^[2][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for dulling the eyesight.^[5][6]
• early 15th century – English borrows the participle as obtuse.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To beat, batter, pummel; to strike against an obstacle.^[2][5]
2. (of a sound) To strike the ears.^[2]
3. To weary (the ears or a person) with repeated words; to din something into someone's ears.^[2][5]
4. To make blunt.^[2][5]
5. (figurative) To dull, deaden (the senses, the mind, a feeling).^[2][5]
6. To make deaf.^[2]
7. (of the voice) To make hoarse; to make a sound indistinct.^[2]

Word family

• obtūsiangulus
• obtūsiō
• obtūsus

Related words

• English obtuse

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 p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson