Etymologically
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resorbeo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈsɔr.be.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈs̬ɔr.be.o][1]

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]

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