socrus

Forms

socrus f (genitive socrūs); fourth declension^[1] Inscriptions also have socera and socra.^[2] Naevius and Accius use it as a masculine, “father-in-law”.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *swekrū̆- (“mother-in-law”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sweḱrúh₂ (“mother-in-law”), the feminine counterpart of the word continued by socer.^[4][1][3] De Vaan explains the shift of the old ū-stem to a nominative in -us by the loss of a laryngeal in the oblique cases, as in neptis.^[4] Cognates include Sanskrit श्वश्रू (śvaśrū́-, “mother-in-law”), Old High German swigar (“mother-in-law”) and Welsh chwegr.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Naevius, who uses it as a masculine for a father-in-law;^[5][3] de Vaan dates the feminine from Ennius.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The sense mother-in-law, of a husband's or a wife's mother, prevailed in all periods: Terence writes that all mothers-in-law hate their daughters-in-law with one mind.^[2][3] Only two passages of the old poets, in Naevius and Accius, use it of a father-in-law.^[2][3] With magna or maior it is a husband's or wife's grandmother or great-grandmother, as in Festus and the Digest.^[3][2] Late glosses and inscriptions from North Africa have a masculine socrus, socrī, “father-in-law”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of a father-in-law.^[3][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law.^[2][5]
• 533 AD – the Digest of a great-grandmother-in-law.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mother-in-law.^[3][2][6][1]
2. socrus magna, socrus maior, a husband's or wife's grandmother or great-grandmother.^[3][2]
3. (archaic) A father-in-law.^[3][2][6]

Related words

• socer
• nurus

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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