secubo

Forms

sēcubō (present infinitive sēcubāre, perfect active sēcubuī, supine sēcubitum); first conjugation, no passive^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sē- (“apart”) + cubō (“to lie down”).^[2][1] De Vaan explains the prefix as the old ablative ⟨sēd⟩, which as a preposition meant “without, away”.^[3] The verb cubō goes back to Proto-Italic *kubā̆je/o- (“be lying”); de Vaan finds a PIE origin of its root uncertain, since it has a /b/ and is found only in Italic and Celtic.^[3] Cognate with Faliscan cupat (“lies down”) and Middle Welsh kyscu (“to sleep”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in Catullus,^[4][5][6] who speaks of sleeping away from someone's breasts, a tuis secubare papillis.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It means to sleep apart from one's spouse or lover, or to sleep alone,^[2][4] and Lewis and Short note that Cicero never uses it.^[4] It is said of a man in Catullus, Livy, Quintilian and Suetonius, and of a woman in Tibullus, whose chaste bed is puro secubuisse toro, and in Ovid.^[4][6] Propertius and Apuleius use it more generally of living alone or in seclusion,^[5] and Lewis and Short quote miles depositis annosus secubat armis, “the aged soldier lives apart, his arms laid down”.^[4] In Apuleius it is also said of someone who reclines apart from the other guests at a dinner.^[2][6] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to live alone.^[7]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of sleeping apart.^[6][8]
• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus uses it of a woman sleeping alone.^[4][6][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a man.^[4][8]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of reclining apart at a dinner and of living in solitude.^[2][5][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sleep apart from one's spouse or lover; to sleep alone.^[2][4][6]
2. To recline apart from one's companions at table.^[2][6]
3. To live alone, live in seclusion.^[4][5][7]

Word family

• secubatio
• sēcubitō
• sēcubitus

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de