obturo

Forms

obtūrō (present infinitive obtūrāre, perfect active obtūrāvī, supine obtūrātum); first conjugation^[1] Also spelled optūrō.^[2] Cato has the old passive infinitive obturarier.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ob- + *tūros, with a noun that is not attested by itself; the OLD compares tumeō and turgeō.^[2] De Vaan takes the stem ⟨-tūrā-⟩ to presuppose a noun Proto-Italic *tūro-, *tVu(V)ro- or *toiro-.^[4] Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny connect it with Proto-Indo-European *tuh₂- (“to swell”), a swelling becoming a plug, which de Vaan finds semantically possible; since the verb can also mean “to seal, protect”, it could instead belong with tūtus (“safe”), from Proto-Indo-European *tuH-.^[4] Any plug-like object of the right form could underlie it, so that all remains uncertain.^[4] Wiktionary follows the derivation from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”).^[1]

The verb retūrō (“to unplug”) is formed on the same stem.^[4][5] Paulus' epitome of Festus derived the verb from the Greek word for a door.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it from Plautus on.^[4] In the Aulularia a miser is mocked with the question whether he even stops up his lower throat so as not to lose any breath while he sleeps.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant to block a hole or a vessel with a plug or a lid, as Cato, Varro, Vitruvius and Columella use it, and to stop up what flows through a passage.^[2] Figuratively, os obturare was to close someone's mouth, already in Plautus, and aures obturare to close one's ears, to refuse to listen, as in Horace.^[2][3] Wiktionary also gives the sense to assuage or allay.^[1]

In Christian Latin it kept the sense of closing or stopping up, including the ears.^[6] The Vulgate uses it of stopping up springs of water.^[7] The TLL notes that the Romance verbs ⟨turare⟩ and ⟨atturare⟩ seem to be later formations.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of stopping up a throat, and figuratively of closing people's mouths.^[2][8]
• 234–149 BC – Cato has the old infinitive obturarier.^[2][8]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of stopping one's ears.^[3][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of stopping up holes and ears.^[2][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate speaks of stopping up springs of water.^[7][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To block a hole or a vessel with a plug or the like; to stop up, seal up, close.^[2][3]
2. To block up the contents of a vessel or a passage.^[2]
3. (figurative) os obturare, to close someone's mouth, keep them from speaking;^[2][3] aures obturare, to stop one's ears, refuse to listen.^[2][3]
4. To assuage, allay.^[1]

Word family

• obturaculum
• obtūrāmentum
• obtūrātiō
• praeobtūrō

Related words

• turgeō
• English obturate

References

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