Etymologically
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resupinus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛ.sʊˈpiː.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [re.s̬uˈpiː.nus][1]

Forms

resupīnus (feminine resupīna, neuter resupīnum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + supīnus (“lying face upwards”).[2][1][3] De Vaan explains supīnus as a simple adjective in ⟨-īnus⟩ that keeps the old meaning “upwards” of the stem of sub (“under”), going back to Proto-Italic *supīno- (“upwards”) and Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)upo (“up, from below”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Accius,[4][2] in a passage Cicero quotes, of lying on one's back and gazing up at the sky.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Lucretius, Virgil and Ovid use it of lying flat on one's back,[2][5][6] and Ovid also of the face of someone lying so.[2] It comes to mean leaning back, and with the head thrown back in pride: Ovid's Niobe walks through the city resupīna, and Seneca uses it of an actor strutting on stage.[2][6] Of things it means facing upwards, and of ground sloping upwards;[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of the turned-back rim of a lily, Columella of a pig's flat snout, and Quintilian of a cadence that dies away.[2] In prose it can also mean lazy or indifferent.[2][7] Medieval writers in Britain use it of lying on one's back in bed, and glossaries also explain it as wide open.[8]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of lying on one's back.[2][4][9]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.[2][9]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the head thrown back in pride.[2][9]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of ground sloping upwards.[2][9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Lying on one's back, face upwards, supine.[2][5][10]
  2. (figurative) Inert, passive, indifferent; lazy.[2][7]
  3. Turned upside down.[2]
  4. Leaning back; with the head thrown back, haughty.[2][10][7]
  5. Facing upwards;[2] (of ground) sloping upwards.[2]
  6. Tilted or turned back;[2] (of a nose) flattened.[2]
  7. (of a cadence) Dying away.[2][11]

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 r s t u v Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c 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 c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell
  8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  10. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.