Etymologically
Log in

potito

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 00:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

pōtitō (present infinitive pōtitāre, perfect active pōtitāvī, supine pōtitātum); first conjugation[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin pōtō (“to drink”) + -itō, a frequentative verb.[1][3][2] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of pōtus (“drunk”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *pōto- and Proto-Indo-European *ph₃-to- (“drunk”), from the root *peh₃- (“to drink”).[4]

Words from the same root include Ancient Greek πῶθι (pôthi, “drink!”), an Aeolic form.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found only in Plautus,[4][3] who in the Amphitruo speaks of the golden bowl from which King Pterela used to drink: quī Pterela pōtitāre rēx est solitus.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It meant to drink often or habitually.[1][5] Besides the Amphitruo, Plautus uses it in the Asinaria of drinking cups with someone,[2][6] and in the Miles Gloriosus contrasts those who are drunk with those who drink pōsca, vinegar and water.[2][7] The TLL also notes the form pōtita on a Christian glass vessel beside propīna, “drink a toast”, where it may be an imperative or a name.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of habitual drinking.[1][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drink often, continuously or habitually.[1][3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de