parento

Forms

parentō (present infinitive parentāre, perfect active parentāvī, supine parentātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin parēns (“parent”) + -ō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan takes parēns for an old participle of pariō (“to bear”), preserving a root aorist of Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- (“to provide”).^[4] The glossaries seem to derive it from pāreō (“to obey”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro uses it first, of those who have the right to perform the rites for the dead there;^[2] Cicero also uses it often.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is to make the offerings at the tombs of dead parents or relatives, above all at the Parentalia: Cicero asks where a man's tomb exists at which rites may be performed, and says the ancestors wished offerings to be made to the dead in the month of February;^[2][5] Seneca says offerings to the dead are certainly made by day.^[5] Tertullian says Christians neither sacrifice nor make offerings to the dead, nor eat of what is so offered.^[5] By extension it is to avenge a dead relative or comrade with another's death, as an offering to his spirit: Caesar's soldiers would rather endure anything than fail to avenge the Roman citizens killed at Cenabum, and Livy has the king avenged with the blood of the conspirators.^[5] Cicero uses it of appeasement: Dolabella appeased his commander's spirit sooner than Antony his colleague's.^[2]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of the rites for the dead.^[2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of offerings in February.^[5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of avenging Roman citizens.^[5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian of Christians who do not make such offerings.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To perform the rites at the tombs of dead parents or relatives, make offerings to the dead (especially at the Parentalia).^[2][5][1]
2. To avenge (a dead relative or comrade) by killing someone, as an offering to his spirit; to appease.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• parentātiō

Related words

• parēns
• Parentālia
• pariō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press