sanguino

Forms

sanguinō (present infinitive sanguināre, perfect active sanguināvī, supine sanguinātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sanguis (“blood”) + -ō, a verb made from the noun.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated use is figurative: in Tacitus’ Dialogue on Orators, a sanguinans eloquentia is a bloodthirsty eloquence.^[2][3][4] The literal sense “to bleed” is in the Major Declamations ascribed to Quintilian, of arms streaming with blood.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word was rare and post-Augustan.^[3] Tertullian used it of a menstruating woman,^[3][4] Apuleius of a serpent whose neck runs red with venom, close to a sense “be blood-coloured”,^[3][4][5] and later writers made it transitive: the veterinary writer Pelagonius uses it for bleeding an animal,^[4] the Vulgate for beating someone until they bleed.^[5][6]

It survives in Romance, in Italian sanguinare and Romanian sângera.^[1]

Timeline

• 98–115 AD – Tacitus speaks of a bloodthirsty eloquence.^[2][7]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a serpent’s neck running red.^[3][5][7]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a menstruating woman.^[3][4][7]
• 360 AD – Pelagonius uses it transitively, for letting an animal’s blood.^[4][7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for beating someone until they bleed.^[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To bleed, run with blood.^[2][3]
2. (intransitive, figurative) To thirst after blood, be bloodthirsty.^[2][3]
3. (intransitive) To be blood-coloured.^[3][4]
4. (transitive, Late Latin) To make bleed; to let blood from; to beat until bleeding.^[4][5]

Word family

• exsanguinātus
• sanguinatio

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Dvoretsky, I. Kh. (1976), Latinsko-russkij slovarʹ [Latin–Russian Dictionary], 2nd ed., Moscow: Russkij jazyk
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de