oscito

Forms

ōscitō (present infinitive ōscitāre, perfect active ōscitāvī, supine ōscitātum); first conjugation, no passive^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ōs¹ (“mouth”) + citō² (“to set in motion”),^[1][2] though the OLD gives this only as likely;^[3] the TLL thinks that ⟨ōs⟩ and ⟨citāre⟩, used side by side, grew together.^[4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the word for “mouth”,^[5] and Georges connects its second part with cieō (“to move”).^[2] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *ōs- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃eh₁-os (“mouth”).^[5]

The grammarian Nonius explained it instead from ⟨citum⟩, “divided, separated”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[5] who uses the deponent form in the Menaechmi of a man thought to be mad, stretching himself and gaping.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is “to open the mouth wide, gape”, and it was also said of things that open out: Ennius has a head torn from the neck gaping on the plain, Columella the flower called the lion opening, and Pliny the Elder leaves that open towards the sun every day.^[3][6][2]

More often it means “to yawn” from weariness or boredom: Cicero has a juror yawning while the speaker talks, and Epicurus' teachings as the dreams of a yawning man;^[3][6] Lucretius describes a man who yawns as soon as he reaches his villa;^[3][6] Gellius has a man who yawned loudly while standing in court.^[3][6] Figuratively it meant to sit idle: the Rhetorica ad Herennium reproaches people who sit and yawn while worse disasters threaten.^[3][6][2] Persius and later Augustine use it with an object, of yawning off the night's drinking.^[3][6]

The present participle ōscitāns came to mean “listless, careless”: Terence has people caught off guard, and Cicero speaks of the drowsy wisdom of the Scaevolas; he also has the adverb ōscitanter, “carelessly”.^[6][2] The deponent ōscitor appears in Plautus, Turpilius, the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Seneca.^[3][4]

English took oscitate from its past participle in the 1620s.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the deponent of a man gaping.^[3][5][8]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius has a severed head gaping on the plain.^[3][8]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses the participle of people caught off guard.^[6][8]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of yawning.^[3][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero has a yawning juror and the drowsy wisdom of the Scaevolas.^[3][6][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of leaves opening to the sun.^[3][8]
• 1620s – English borrows oscitate.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To open the mouth wide, gape;^[3][6] (of flowers, leaves) to open out.^[3][6]
2. To yawn from weariness or boredom.^[3][6]
3. (figurative) To sit idle, be listless.^[6][2]

Word family

• ōscitābundus
• ōscitanter
• ōscitāns
• ōscitātiō

Usage notes

It is also used as a deponent, ōscitor, with the old infinitive ōscitārier in Turpilius.^[3][6][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de