Etymologically
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pulso

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpʊɫ.soː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpul.so][1]

Forms

pulsō (present infinitive pulsāre, perfect active pulsāvī, supine pulsātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is the frequentative of pellō “to drive, strike”, from its supine stem ⟨puls-⟩ with the suffix -tō; compare pultō.[2][1][3] Lucretius has the old infinitive ⟨pulsārier⟩.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of knocking at a building's door.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to strike repeatedly, beat, especially the breast in mourning, as in Virgil, to beat the ground with the feet, the water in swimming or rowing, and hyperbolically of things so high they beat the sky.[2] It meant to knock at a door, as in Plautus and Horace, of feelings to hammer at the heart, to strike a musical instrument, and in Cicero to beat, assault a person.[2] It meant to batter a wall, of waves and winds to beat on, of sounds to strike the senses, to importune with prayers, and in Ulpian to indict.[2] It also meant to push, impel, as Cicero's atoms “pushed and tossed”, and to send packing.[2][6] Döderlein explains that the verberāns makes his blow rebound.[7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to knock, strike, beat on, ring.[8] Through Old French poulser it gave English push about 1300.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of knocking.[2][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of beating the ground.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of assault and of pushing.[2][6][5]
  • c. 1300 – English push is recorded, through Old French.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To beat, strike repeatedly; to beat the breast.[2]
  2. To knock at a door.[2]
  3. Of feelings, to hammer at.[2]
  4. To strike an instrument.[2]
  5. To beat, assault, (law) to indict.[2]
  6. To batter; of waves, to beat on.[2]
  7. To strike the senses; to importune.[2]
  8. To push, impel; to drive away.[2]

Word family

  • circumpulsō
  • compulsō
  • dēpulsō
  • expulsō
  • prōpulsō
  • pulsābulum
  • pulsātiō
  • pulsātor
  • repulsō

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com