rimor

Forms

rīmor (present infinitive rīmārī, perfect active rīmātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1] Pacuvius has an active form rīmō, -āre.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin rīma (“crack, fissure”) + -ō.^[2][1] De Vaan finds the origin of rīma unclear: a preform from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₁reiḱ- (“to tear, break”) of rixa would fit, but several other preforms would give the same Latin word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Pacuvius,^[3] who uses the active form.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to probe the cracks of something, search: Seneca writes of greed that has probed the veins of the earth.^[2] Lewis & Short think it belonged first to farming, of tearing up the ground: Virgil has farmers who can barely scratch the earth with hoes, and birds grubbing through meadows.^[4][2] It is to rummage for, and to examine with the eyes: an unknown tragic poet has someone poking about hidden places by the sea, and Virgil's Tarchon looks for an exposed spot to strike.^[2] Transferred, it is to investigate a subject, as Posidonius does in Cicero, or to ferret out facts: Tacitus speaks of a city quick to sniff out offences.^[2] Döderlein says that it means searching for something hidden by digging for it, with effort and skill, while scrutor is searching by rummaging, with eagerness.^[5]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius.^[2][3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of investigating a question.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of scratching the earth and looking for a spot to strike.^[2][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of probing the veins of the earth.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of ferreting out offences.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To probe the cracks of, probe, search; to furrow, tear up (the ground); to rummage for.^[2][4][1]
2. To examine with the eyes, scrutinize; to look about for; to espy through a crack.^[2]
3. To investigate (a subject); to ferret out.^[2][1]

Related words

• rīma
• scrutor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de