Etymologically
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sarcio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsar.ki.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsar.t͡ʃi.o][1]

Forms

sarciō (present infinitive sarcīre, perfect active sarsī, supine sartum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sark-je/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sr̥k-ie/o- (“to make good, emend”).[2][1] Cognate with Hittite šarni(n)k- (“to compensate, replace”) and Ancient Greek ἕρκος (hérkos, “fence, enclosure”).[2][3] The OLD gives the Hittite comparison with a “perhaps”, and Lewis & Short call the origin doubtful.[3][4] Festus explains it as to make whole.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[2] in whose Mostellaria someone feels he cannot repair his house.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to mend or repair: Cato has baskets mended and pitched, and old ropes and patchwork, and Pliny the Elder cracked jars mended.[3][4] In surgery it is to repair a defect, and Scribonius Largus has a wound stitched.[3][4] Figuratively Virgil has bees repairing the ruins of their fallen race, and Horace asks whether a badly mended friendship can hold.[3] It is also to make good a loss: Caesar wants to retrieve the day's setback, and Livy tells soldiers their losses will be made good by plunder.[3] Cicero speaks of making up for a wrong by honouring a dead man.[3] Festus reports that in the Twelve Tables sarcītō meant “let him pay for the damage”.[4] Church Latin glosses it repair, restore, make good, correct.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of repairing a house.[3][2][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of mending baskets.[3][4][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of retrieving a setback.[3][4][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of bees repairing their race.[3][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of losses made good.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To mend, patch, repair; in surgery, to repair, stitch.[3][4][1][5]
  2. (figurative) To make good a loss or damage; to retrieve a defeat; to make up for a fault; to restore a sum.[3][4][1][5]

Word family

  • exsarciō
  • insarcio
  • resarciō
  • sarcīmen
  • sarcina
  • sarcinātor
  • sarcinātrix
  • sarcītor
  • sartor
  • sartrix
  • sartūra

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de