parturio

Forms

parturiō (present infinitive parturīre, perfect active parturīvī or parturiī); fourth conjugation, no supine stem^[1] Phaedrus and Apuleius have the imperfect parturībam.^[2][3] A curse tablet spells it -tour-.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin pariō (“to bear, give birth”) + -uriō, a desiderative.^[2][1][3][4] De Vaan counts it among the two oldest presents in ⟨-urīre⟩, perhaps modelled on ēsuriō (“to be hungry”), and traces pariō to Proto-Indo-European *pérh3-i- (“to provide”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus says in the Amphitruo that Alcumena is in labour.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to be on the point of giving birth, to be in labour, of women and animals: Terence has someone fear it will be noticed that a woman is in labour, Ovid has Lucina help at the prayer of one in labour, and Phaedrus has a dog in labour.^[2][3] Of trees and land it is to burst into bud: Virgil says that now every tree is in bud.^[2] Figuratively the mind is in travail, as Cicero speaks of one mind labouring for many.^[2] Horace gives the proverb parturient montēs, nascētur rīdiculus mūs, the mountains will labour and a ridiculous mouse be born.^[2] Transitively it is to be pregnant with, as Pliny the Elder's painting of Liber being born from Jupiter.^[2] Church Latin also uses it of intending, imagining, brooding over or meditating something.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of Alcumena in labour.^[2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the mind in travail.^[2]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of trees in bud.^[2]
• 65–8 BC – Horace's proverb of the mountains in labour.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be in labour, be about to give birth; of trees, to bud.^[2][3][1][6]
2. (figurative) To be in travail, be anxious.^[2]
3. (transitive) To be pregnant with; to teem with.^[2][1]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To intend, brood over, meditate.^[6]

Word family

• comparturio
• parturītiō
• reparturiens

Related words

• pariō
• partus

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 m n o 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. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson