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profluo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈproː.fɫu.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɔː.flu.o][1]

Forms

prōfluō (present infinitive prōfluere, perfect active prōflūxī, supine prōflūxum); third conjugation, no passive[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + fluō (“to flow”).[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius has a man one of whose eyes ran from eating onions,[2] and Ennius, quoted by Cicero, blood flowing.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is to flow forth or run out, of liquids: Cicero writes of a lake released flowing to the sea.[2] Of a river it is to rise, as Caesar's Meuse rising in the Vosges, and of water to flow freely, as Vitruvius' springs.[2][4] It is also to run or overflow with a liquid, and in Celsus of the bowels to be loose.[2] Of speech it is to flow readily: the Rhetorica ad Herennium has a man from whose mouth speech flowed sweeter than honey.[2] With ex or ab it is to spring or emanate from something, as in Cicero's De Oratore.[2] Tacitus applies it to a person drifting into a course of conduct, as Messalina into unknown lusts.[2] Church Latin glosses it flow forth, run, issue.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of a running eye.[2]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of flowing blood.[4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a lake flowing to the sea.[2]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of the source of the Meuse.[2][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of drifting into lust.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To flow forth, run out, discharge; of a river, to rise; to flow freely.[2][4][1][5]
  2. To run with a liquid; of the bowels, to be loose.[2][1]
  3. Of speech, to flow readily.[2]
  4. To spring, emanate, be derived.[2][1]
  5. Of a person, to drift into a course of conduct.[2][1]

Word family

  • prōfluentia
  • profluus
  • prōfluēns
  • prōfluenter
  • prōfluvium
  • prōfluvius

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson