socer

Forms

socer m (genitive socerī); second declension^[1] Plautus also has a nominative socerus.^[2][3] Naevius has the dative socrī.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *swekuros, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱuros (“father-in-law”).^[3][1] Cognate with Sanskrit श्वशुर (śváśura-, “father-in-law”), Ancient Greek ἑκυρός (hekurós, “father-in-law”), Lithuanian šešuras (“father-in-law”) and Old High German swehur (“father-in-law”).^[3][2] The feminine socrus (“mother-in-law”) continues ⟨*swekrū-⟩, *sweḱrúh₂.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius.^[3] Plautus uses it often, once with both forms in one scene (Menaechmi).^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is the father-in-law, the wife's or husband's father.^[2][4] In the plural it can be a father-in-law and his wife, the parents-in-law, as Andromache went to visit her socerōs in Virgil.^[2] Socer magnus (or socer alone) is a husband's or wife's grandfather, as Festus reports.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “father-in-law”, in the plural “parents-in-law”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius.^[3][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Common in Plautus, also as socerus.^[4][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of parents-in-law.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A father-in-law.^[2][1][5]
2. (plural) Parents-in-law.^[2][5]
3. (socer magnus) A husband's or wife's grandfather.^[2]

Related words

• socrus
• gener
• nurus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c 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