Etymologically
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operio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɔˈpɛ.ri.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [oˈpɛː.ri.o][1]

Forms

operiō (present infinitive operīre, perfect active operuī, supine opertum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *op-wer-i(e)- (“to cover up”), from ob- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂uer-i(e)- (“to cover”).[2][1] It is the counterpart of aperiō “to open”, from *ap-wer-.[2][3][4]

Cognate with Sanskrit अपिवृणोति (apivṛṇoti, “to close, cover”) and Oscan veru (“gates”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Naevius onwards.[2] In Plautus someone “went off and shut the door”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was to shut or close a door, and then to cover or spread over something to protect it, as in Cato's straw spread over seedlings in winter.[3] It meant to cover a whole surface, to clothe or wrap someone, as Cato's women “covered in gold and purple”, to bury, and to hide from sight.[3][5]

Figuratively it meant to conceal or dissemble, to overwhelm, and of a sin, to atone for it.[1] Its compound cooperire gave Old French covrir and English cover in the mid-12th century.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.[2][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of shutting a door.[3][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of covering seedlings and of women covered in gold.[3][7]
  • mid-12th century – English cover comes from its compound cooperire.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To shut, close (a door).[3][1]
  2. To cover, overspread.[3][1]
  3. To cover the whole surface of.[3]
  4. To clothe, wrap, envelop.[3][1]
  5. To hide from sight, conceal.[3][1]
  6. To overwhelm, burden.[1]
  7. (of a sin) To atone for, cause to be forgotten.[1]

Word family

  • adoperiō
  • cooperiō
  • deoperiō
  • inopertus
  • operculum
  • operīmentum
  • opertiō
  • opertō
  • opertōrium
  • opertum
  • opertus
  • redoperio

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de