Etymologically
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obversor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔbˈwɛr.sɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [obˈvɛr.sor][1]

Forms

obversor (present infinitive obversārī, perfect active obversātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- (“before, against”) + versor (“to move about”).[2][1][3] versor is the deponent of versō (“to turn often”), a frequentative of vertō (“to turn”).[2][1] Priscian records an active form obversō, which the TLL thinks was probably invented.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's examples begin with Livy, who tells of soldiers loitering about while living on a king's pay.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to move about where one can be seen, to go to and fro, as in Livy's report that many were openly about in Carthage.[2][4] It is also to get in someone's way: Seneca asks why a cough or a dog crossing our path should drive us to rage.[2] Of ideas and images it means to appear before the mind's eye: Livy asks whether the memory of a night did not rise before them.[2] Church Latin glosses it oppose, withstand, resist.[5]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of soldiers loitering and of a memory.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca the Younger of a dog crossing one's path.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To move about in view, go to and fro; to get in someone's way.[2][4]
  2. Of ideas or images, to appear before the eyes or mind, haunt.[2][1]
  3. To oppose, withstand, resist.[5][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de