Etymologically
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socors

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsɔ.kɔrs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsɔː.kors][1]

Forms

socors (genitive socordis, comparative socordior, superlative socordissimus, adverb socorditer); third-declension one-termination adjective[1] The length of the first syllable is uncertain in classical Latin but probably short, as it certainly is in Prudentius.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin sē- (“apart, without”) + cor (“heart”).[2][3][1] De Vaan reconstructs the compound as Proto-Italic *swe-kord- or *sēd-kord-, with the prefix perhaps assimilated to ⟨so-⟩.[4] He traces cor to *kord and Proto-Indo-European *ḱērd (“heart”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek καρδία (kardía, “heart”), Old Irish cride (“heart”) and Lithuanian širdìs (“heart”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is wanting in vitality or alertness, sluggish, slack, inert, and with a genitive taking no interest in something.[2][1] Of the mind it is dull or stupid:[2] Cicero describes someone careless and sluggish by nature, socors natura neglegensque,[3] and Apuleius says the sage Anacharsis was born among the dullest Scythians.[2] Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.[3] In Church Latin it is silly, foolish, weak-minded.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a careless nature.[3][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of the dull Scythians.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Sluggish, slack, inert, inactive.[2][1]
  2. With a genitive: taking no interest in.[2][1]
  3. Mentally dull, stupid, foolish, silly.[2][3][1][6]

Word family

References

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