Etymologically
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recumbo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈkʊm.boː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈkum.bo][1]

Forms

recumbō (present infinitive recumbere, perfect active recubuī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1] The spelling recunbo occurs in a manuscript of the Old Latin Gospels and in inscriptions.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- (“back”) + -cumbō (“to lie down”), a compound of a nasal present not found on its own, beside cubō (“to lie”).[3][2][4] De Vaan traces -cumbō to Proto-Italic *kumbe/o- (“to lie down”); because of its /b/ and its restriction to Italic and Celtic, a PIE origin of the root is uncertain.[4] Cognate with Faliscan cupat (“lies”) and Middle Welsh kyscu (“to sleep”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius,[4] who in the Annals uses it of rowers leaning back as they pull: “lean back now and drive the oars with your breasts”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to lie down or recline, as Cicero speaks of someone lying down on the grass, and poets use it of places lying low.[3] It is used of lying down to sleep or going back to bed, of sinking into unconsciousness in Lucretius, and of the sea sinking to rest, as in Horace's “the threatening wave sinks back on the sea”.[3] It also means to recline at table, and to take one's place at table again, as in Suetonius.[3]

Of things it means to sink or fall back and settle, as the little bridge in Catullus that is not to sink into the hollow marsh, and figuratively to fall or devolve on someone, as in Virgil, where the whole house leans on Turnus.[3] In Church Latin it is used of reclining at table, eating and dining with someone.[5]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of rowers leaning back.[3][4][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of sinking into unconsciousness.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of lying down, going back to bed and reclining at dinner.[3][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a responsibility resting on a person.[3][6]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of taking one's place at table again.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To lie down, recline, lie at rest; of places, to lie low.[3][7][1]
  2. To lie or lean back, as in rowing.[3]
  3. To lie down to sleep; to lie down again, go back to bed.[3][7]
  4. To sink into unconsciousness; of the sea, to sink to rest, become calm.[3][1]
  5. To recline at table; to resume one's place at table.[3][5]
  6. Of things, to sink or fall back, settle.[3][1]
  7. To fall or devolve on someone, as a responsibility.[3]

Word family

  • recubitus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press