Etymologically
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sepelio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɛˈpɛ.li.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [seˈpɛː.li.o][1]

Forms

sepeliō (present infinitive sepelīre, perfect active sepelīvī, supine sepultum); fourth conjugation[1] Persius has a perfect sepelī, and Cato and inscriptions a participle sepelītus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sepel-je/o- (“to bury”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sepel-ie/o- (“to honour”).[4][1] Its closest cognate is Sanskrit सपर्यति (saparyáti, “honours, worships”), beside Avestan haptī (“watches, preserves”).[4][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from the Twelve Tables;[4] Plautus has “where you have been poured out, there I would like to be buried” in the Curculio.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to dispose of a corpse or ashes in the proper way, to bury or inter, and also to burn on a pyre.[2][3][1] Usually in the passive it is to be overcome or sunk, as Ennius' enemies “subdued by wine and buried in sleep”.[2][1] Figuratively it is to consign to oblivion or suppress, as Cicero's war that Pompey's arrival “buried”, and to ruin.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “bury”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables.[4][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of being buried.[2][6]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of enemies buried in sleep.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a war buried.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To bury, inter; to burn on a funeral pyre.[2][3][1][5]
  2. (usually passive) To submerge, overcome (with sleep, wine).[2][1]
  3. (figurative) To consign to oblivion, suppress; to ruin.[2][1]

Word family

  • cōnsepeliō
  • īnsepultus
  • praesepultus
  • sēmisepultus
  • sepelībilis
  • sepulcrum
  • sepultō
  • sepultor
  • sepultūra
  • sepulcrālis
  • sepulcrētum
  • sepultūrārius
  • humō

Usage notes

Döderlein notes that sepelīre and condere denote the complete, more or less solemn burial of the dead, with or without burning, sepelīre being the proper and technical term.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper