resorbeo

Forms

resorbeō (present infinitive resorbēre, perfect active resorbuī, supine resorptum); second conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + sorbeō (“to suck up, swallow”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces sorbeō to Proto-Italic *sorfeie- and Proto-Indo-European *srobʰ-eie- (“to take sips, slurp”).^[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek ῥοφέω (rhophéō, “to slurp, gulp”), Lithuanian sur̃bti (“to suck”) and Hittite šarāp-i “to sip”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest quotations in the OLD are from Lucretius, who uses it of a magnet that repels and draws back iron and of the sea that sucks back its tide at the foot of a mountain.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is to suck back or swallow down again.^[2][4] Mostly a poetic and post-Augustan word,^[4] it is used above all of the sea drawing back its waves, in Ovid, Virgil and Tacitus,^[2][5] and Pliny the Younger describes the sea sucked back on itself and as if driven back by the shaking of the earth.^[2][4] Horace uses it figuratively of a wave that sweeps a man back into war.^[2][5] Pliny the Elder uses it of a river that withdraws into narrow channels and of crows swallowing their voice,^[2][4] and Quintilian of speakers who draw in their breath with a hiss.^[2][6] In Seneca's tragedies, Statius and Silius it means to choke back tears.^[2][4][5]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of a magnet and of the sea.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the sea drawing back stones.^[2][5][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a wave of war.^[2][7]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of drawing in breath.^[2][7]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of tears held back.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To absorb again, to suck back, swallow down again.^[2][4]
2. Of the sea or other things, to draw back into itself; to attract.^[2][4]
3. To suppress tears or the voice by swallowing, to choke back.^[2][4][6]

Related words

• sorbeō
• absorbeō
• exsorbeō

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. ^ a b 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 f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de