polluo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɔl.lu.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɔl.lu.o]^[1]

Forms

polluō (present infinitive polluere, perfect active polluī, supine pollūtum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin por- + *luō (“to soil”), from Proto-Italic *lowe/o- or *lawe/o- and Proto-Indo-European *leu-e/o- or *lHu-e/o- “to soil”.^[2][3] Apart from this verb, the other languages have only nouns from the root: lutum “mud”, Ancient Greek λῦμα (lûma, “dirt”) and Old Irish loth (“mud”).^[2][3][1] The long /ū/ of the participle pollūtum may follow the pattern of other verbs in ⟨-uere⟩.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cicero, who speaks of parricides who would pollute the sea.^[2][4] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to make foul or dirty, as Virgil's Harpies fouling the feast, a use Lewis and Short call very rare.^[4][6] More often it meant to make ceremonially impure, to violate or degrade by immoral action, and to defile by illicit intercourse, as Catullus' maiden who has lost her flower.^[4] Nigidius, quoted by Isidore, uses it of breaking a fast.^[4] Döderlein contrasts contāminō, defilement as corruption, with inquinō, defilement as ugliness.^[7]

English pollute “to defile, render ceremonially unclean” appeared in the late 14th century, and the sense “to make physically foul” came later.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of parricides polluting the sea.^[4][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a girl's defiled body.^[4][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil's Harpies foul the feast.^[4][5]
• late 14th century – English pollute is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make foul, soil, stain.^[4]
2. To make ceremonially impure, pollute.^[4]
3. To violate, degrade by immoral action.^[4]
4. To defile by illicit intercourse.^[4]
5. To break (a fast).^[4]

Word family

• pollūbrum
• pollūtiō
• pollūtrīx
• pollūtus

Related words

• lutum
• luēs
• English pollute
• English pollution

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com