profundo

Forms

profundō (present infinitive profundere, perfect active profūdī, supine profūsum); third conjugation^[1] Catullus scans the first syllable long.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from prō- (“forth”) and fundō (“to pour”).^[2][1] De Vaan derives ⟨fundō⟩ from Proto-Italic *χunde- and the present Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰu-n-d- (“to pour”), from the root *ǵʰew-, cognate with Ancient Greek χέω (khéō, “to pour”) and Sanskrit जुहोति (juhóti, “pours, sacrifices”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is its first author,^[4] whose miser in the Aulularia “weeps to pour away water when he washes”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to pour out a liquid, of springs to pour forth water, and to shed fluids from the body, especially blood;^[2][5] animam or vītam profundere is to die or to give one's life, as Cicero's Miltiades who died in chains.^[2][5] It is also to send out flames, to put forth shoots, and to pour out words or publish copiously, as in Lucilius and Cicero.^[2]

Reflexively a crowd streams forth, as Caesar's archers, and feelings break out, as Cicero's pleasures that suddenly burst out after being held in.^[2] It is to let the limbs hang loosely in sleep, as in Lucretius, and in the passive to prostrate oneself.^[2][1] It also means to lavish or squander, as Cicero's “one must give, one must pour out money”.^[2][5] Church Latin glosses it “pour out or forth, cause to flow, rush out”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of pouring away water.^[2][4]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of a man prostrated by grief.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of limbs relaxed in sleep.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of giving one's life and of lavishing money.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pour out; to shed (blood); animam profundere, to die, give one's life.^[2][5][1]
2. To send forth (flames); to put forth (shoots).^[2]
3. To pour out (words); to publish copiously.^[2]
4. (reflexive) (of a crowd) To stream forth;^[2][6] (of feelings) to break out.^[2][6]
5. To let (the limbs) hang loosely;^[2][1] (passive) to prostrate oneself.^[2][1]
6. To lavish, squander.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• profūsiō
• profusor

Related words

• fundō
• effundō
• prōfūsus
• English profuse

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson