obumbro

Forms

obumbrō (present infinitive obumbrāre, perfect active obumbrāvī, supine obumbrātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + umbrō (“to shade”).^[2][1] The simple verb is formed from umbra (“shade, shadow”), which is generally connected with Lithuanian ùnksna (“shade”); de Vaan finds the sound changes this requires conceivable, but knows no root etymology.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest examples are in Virgil (70–19 BC), who uses it of darkening the sky with missiles and of a queen's great name that shelters a man.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It means to cover with shadow or to shade: Ovid has grassy turf shading the wet ground and a grove that shades a temple, Curtius a shaded river, and Columella something shaded from the sun.^[2][4] Of sources of light it means to dim or hide: Seneca has stars hidden by the brightness of the sun and the sun darkened in an eclipse, and Pliny the Elder the sun covered by a cloud and fireflies that shine and go dark.^[2] Figuratively it means to obscure: Pliny quotes the proverb that wisdom is darkened by wine, and Quintilian says that laboured words obscure the sense.^[2] It also means to cover up or disguise, as a pretence in Petronius or baldness in Apuleius, and to screen or protect, as an error that cloaks a crime in Ovid.^[2] The Vulgate uses it in the Gospel of Luke,^[4] and Old English ofersceadwian (“to cast a shadow over”), the source of overshadow, rendered it in the New Testament.^[6] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to overshadow, shade or darken.^[7] Old French obumbrer continues it, and English borrowed obumbrate.^[1]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of darkening the sky with missiles.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–AD 18 – Ovid uses it of turf and trees giving shade.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–AD 65 – Seneca uses it of stars hidden by the sun.^[2][5]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of disguising a pretence.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Gospel of Luke.^[4][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cover with shadow, darken, overshadow, shade.^[2][4]
2. (of sources of light) To dim, hide, eclipse.^[2]
3. (figurative) To darken, obscure.^[2][4]
4. To cover up, conceal, disguise.^[2]
5. (figurative) To screen, cloak; to shelter, protect.^[2]

Word family

• obumbraculum
• obumbrātiō
• obumbratrix

Related words

• umbrō

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson