opperior

Forms

opperior (present infinitive opperīrī or opperīrier, perfect active opperītus sum or oppertus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent^[1] Plautus and Terence have the future opperibor and the infinitive opperīrier.^[2][3] The perfect participle is oppertus or opperītus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from ob- and ⟨-perior⟩, the element also in experior (“to try”); the OLD compares perīculum (“trial, danger”) and Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, attempt”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first examples in the OLD are from Plautus, as the Cistellaria: “if your husband comes, tell him to wait at home”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to wait, and with an object to wait for a person, as Plautus' old man waiting before the door, or an event, as “if you will wait for Charmides' arrival” in the Trinummus.^[2] With a clause it is to wait to see how something turns out, as Livy's Roman fleet waiting to see where the unrest at Syracuse would lead, and Tacitus uses it of awaiting the outcome of Germanicus' illness.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of waiting.^[2][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence.^[3][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of waiting to see what happens.^[2][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of awaiting an outcome.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wait.^[2][1]
2. To wait for, await (a person, an event).^[2][1]
3. To await the outcome of.^[2]

Related words

• experior
• perīculum
• exspectō
• praestōlor

Usage notes

Döderlein says that maneō is the physical act of staying in a place, while exspectō, praestōlor and opperior are the mental act of waiting for someone or something.^[5]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper