opprimo

Forms

opprimō (present infinitive opprimere, perfect active oppressī, supine oppressum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled obprimō.^[2][3] Plautus has the short form oppresset for oppressisset.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ob- (“against”) + premō (“to press”).^[2][3][1] premō goes back to Proto-Italic *pres- and Proto-Indo-European *pr-es- (“to press”); its present stem ⟨prem-⟩ was probably made on the model of tremō (“to tremble”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Plautus, of a breast being squeezed (ubi mammia mammicula opprimitur).^[2] Cato has pede tāleam opprimitō, “press the cutting down with your foot”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Opprimere is “to press on, squeeze”, and Ovid uses it of closing the mouth.^[2][3] It is “to smother, stifle” (Varro of a piglet crushed by the sow), “to bury, overwhelm”, and of sleep or wine “to overpower” (Terence: somnus virginem opprimit, “sleep overcomes the girl”).^[2] In war it is “to crush” troops or take a place by storm, and “to take by surprise, catch unawares”.^[2][1] It is also “to put an end to, suppress” a conspiracy, a state of affairs or a feeling.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “oppress, overwhelm, crush, press down”.^[5] English oppress (late 14th century) comes from its participle through French.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ubi mammia mammicula opprimitur.^[2][7]
• 234–149 BC – Cato: pede tāleam opprimitō.^[2][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: somnus virginem opprimit.^[2][7]
• late 14th century – English oppress.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To press on, squeeze; to press down, close.^[2][3][1][5]
2. To smother, stifle.^[2]
3. To bury, overwhelm; to overpower (of sleep or wine).^[2][1][5]
4. To crush (troops); to take by storm.^[2][1][5]
5. To suppress, put an end to.^[2][1]
6. To take by surprise, catch unawares.^[2][1]
7. To oppress.^[5]

Word family

• oppressiō
• oppressor
• oppressus

Related words

• premō
• English oppress

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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 d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
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