roboro

Forms

rōborō (present infinitive rōborāre, perfect active rōborāvī, supine rōborātum); first conjugation^[1] An inscription spells it with ⟨u⟩, robur-.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin rōbur (“hard oak; strength”) + -ō.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucretius, of the body: adulta aetās cum prīmum rōborat artūs, “when ripening age first strengthens the limbs”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.^[3] From the strength of the body it was used of plants made sturdy by the sun, of nests reinforced with straw, and of sounds made fuller.^[2] Figuratively Cicero and Horace use it for strengthening qualities and moral character.^[2][3]

The Vulgate uses it of strengthening a kingdom,^[3] Ecclesiastical Latin also for “to prevail”,^[4] and Tertullian and Jerome have the participle rōborātus as an adjective, “strong”.^[3]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of strengthening the limbs.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of strengthening a quality by constancy.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the moral training of the heart.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of plants and nests.^[2][5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of sounds made stronger by an added ⟨h⟩.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of strengthening a kingdom.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make physically strong, strengthen, invigorate (people, limbs, plants, structures, sounds).^[2][3]
2. (figurative) To make more powerful or effective, reinforce; to give moral strength to.^[2][3]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To prevail.^[4]

Word family

• corrōborō
• irrōborō
• praeroboratus
• rōborascō
• rōborātiō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de