sentino

Forms

sentīnō (present infinitive sentīnāre); first conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is a verb formed from Latin sentīna (“bilge-water”) + -ō³.^[1][3] For sentīna de Vaan sees no formal or semantic obstacle to a link with Proto-Indo-European *semH- (“to scoop”), but since Latin has no other cognate he calls it basically a root etymology.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first known use is figurative, in a fragment of the comic poet Caecilius Statius, where it means to be in trouble.^[1][4][5] Festus explains it there as meaning satagere, to have one's hands full, and derives it from the bilge, because a ship that takes in much water is in danger.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, to bale bilge-water out of a ship, appears only in Late Latin, in a letter of Paulinus of Nola and in Augustine, who also uses it figuratively of being in distress.^[6][4][2] In Augustine's sermons the ship itself is said to be baled (navis sentinatur), which makes the verb transitive.^[4]

Timeline

• 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius Statius uses it of being in difficulty.^[1][5][7]
• 2nd half of the 2nd century AD – Festus explains the word through the ship's bilge.^[6][7]
• c. 353–431 AD – Paulinus of Nola uses it of baling out a ship.^[5][2][7]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it both literally and figuratively.^[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (figurative, intransitive) To be in difficulty, to struggle.^[1][5][2]
2. (nautical, Late Latin) To bale out bilge water; to empty a ship's bilge.^[1][6][2]

Word family

• sentinaculum
• sentinator

Related words

• sentīna

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de