oscito
Pronunciation
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
- To open the mouth wide, gape;[3][6] (of flowers, leaves) to open out.[3][6]
- To yawn from weariness or boredom.[3][6]
- (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
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de