obturbo

Forms

obturbō (present infinitive obturbāre, perfect active obturbāvī, supine obturbātum); first conjugation^[1] Also spelled opturbō, which the TLL finds only in one manuscript of Plautus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- (“against, in the way”) + turbō¹ (“to disturb”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of turba (“turmoil, crowd”), whose origin is uncertain: he finds a link with Sanskrit त्वरते (tvarate, “to hurry”) doubtful in form, and thinks that it and Ancient Greek τύρβη (túrbē, “noise, commotion”) were probably both borrowed from a third language.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[4][2] where a speaker says ne obturba ac tace, “don't interrupt, and be quiet”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus it means to break in on someone with a disturbance.^[2][6] Cicero writes that writing and study do not soothe his grief but at least dull it, non leniunt, sed obturbant.^[6][5] The literal sense, to stir up water and make it muddy, is in Pliny the Elder.^[2][6] Tacitus uses it of throwing troops into confusion, of a man drowned out by the shouts of soldiers, and of senators who protested and obstructed a debate.^[2][6][5] Seneca uses it of confusing the mind,^[2] and Pliny the Younger has the impersonal passive obturbatur, “there was an uproar”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “to interrupt”.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of study dulling grief.^[6][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of confusing the mind.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of muddying water.^[2][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of throwing troops into disorder and of shouting down.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stir up (water) in front of one, to make turbid.^[2][8]
2. To throw (troops) into confusion or disorder.^[2][6]
3. To interrupt or disturb with noise; to shout down; intransitively, to make an uproar.^[2][6]
4. To confuse or distract the mind; to dull (grief); to dazzle (the eyes).^[2][6]

Word family

• obturbator
• obturbātiō

Related words

• turbō¹
• turba
• conturbō
• perturbō

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