sarrio

Forms

sarriō (present infinitive sarrīre, perfect active sarruī or sarrīvī, supine sarrītum); fourth conjugation^[1] The OLD, de Vaan and Georges head it sāriō, and Georges says the spelling with one ⟨r⟩ is that of the best manuscripts and of inscriptions.^[2][3][4] Cato already writes sarr-.^[3] The perfect is sarruī in Cato and sarrīvī in Columella.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sars-je/o- (“to hoe, weed”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sr̥s-ie/o- (“to cut off, weed”), in de Vaan's reconstruction; he leaves open whether ⟨sāriō⟩ or ⟨sarriō⟩ is the older spelling, and notes that the best argument for the double ⟨rr⟩ is a possible link with serra (“saw”).^[3] He also suggests that the root may be Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to cut off”).^[3] Cognate with Sanskrit सृणी (sr̥ṇī́-, “sickle”) and Khotanese harraa- (“saw”).^[3][2] Köbler instead suggests a Gaulish origin, with a question mark.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3] who has semper occant prius quam sariunt rustici, “farmers always harrow before they hoe”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is a farming word:^[5] intransitively, to hoe, and transitively, to hoe the soil or weed the crops, as in Varro's man who came to weed my cornfields.^[2][5] Cato prescribes hoeing grain twice, Pliny the Elder hoeing beans and an impersonal saritur, “the hoeing is done”, and Martial uses it of a rock.^[4] The Vulgate has it in Isaiah.^[5] Stelten gives it in Ecclesiastical Latin as to weed or cultivate.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “to hoe”.^[2][3][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato writes sarr- and prescribes hoeing grain.^[3][4][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro, of weeding cornfields.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella, the perfect sarrīvī.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To hoe.^[2][1]
2. (transitive) To weed (crops); to hoe or dig over (land).^[2][5][1]

Word family

• sarculum
• sarrītor
• sartor

Related words

• serra

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson