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sitio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word sitio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*dʰgʷʰi-ti-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsɪ.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsit.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

sitiō (present infinitive sitīre, perfect active sitīvī or sitiī, supine sitītum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from sitis (“thirst”) with the verbal suffix -iō.[2][3] De Vaan derives ⟨sitis⟩ from Proto-Italic *(k)siti- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰgʷʰi-ti- (“destruction, perishing”), cognate with Ancient Greek φθίνω (phthínō, “to waste away, perish”); the initial cluster was reduced to ⟨s-⟩ through a metathesis.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates the noun from Plautus;[4] the verb is in a Plautine prologue: “I can tell, nobody is thirsty”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to be thirsty, as Plautus' “I am hungry and thirsty”, and in medicine to refrain from drinking.[2][3] Transitively it is to thirst for something, as Ovid's “the more they drink, the more water they thirst for”, by hyperbole for spilt blood, and figuratively to long for or desire eagerly.[2][1] Of land and crops it is to be parched or need water, as in Cato.[2] In a passage of Pliny the Elder on the moon its sense is uncertain.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “thirst”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of thirsty people.[2][3][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of parched land.[2][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of thirsting for water.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To thirst, be thirsty; to abstain from drinking.[2][3][1][5]
  2. To thirst for; to long for, desire eagerly.[2][1]
  3. Of land, to be parched, need water.[2]

Word family

  • sitītor
  • sitītrīx

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Sitio.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/sitio. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·