Etymologically
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sopio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsoː.pi.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsɔː.pi.o][1]

Forms

sōpiō (present infinitive sōpīre, perfect active sōpīvī or sōpiī, supine sōpītum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *swep- (“to sleep”), the root of somnus (“sleep”), but how the verb was formed is disputed.[1][2] The LIV reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *swṓp-ye-ti, which de Vaan doubts as a type;[1] Nussbaum proposed a verb made from a root noun, and Vine a present Proto-Indo-European *swṓp-eye-ti.[1] The OLD compares Sanskrit स्वापयति (svāpáyati).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short quote Ennius' “I put to sleep the fierce dragon's attack”.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It means to put or lull to sleep, most often in the perfect participle;[2][3] Cicero uses only the participle, of the mind awake while the body sleeps.[2][3] Lucretius uses it of a woman sent to sleep by castoreum and of death, as Homer “laid to rest in the same sleep as the others”.[3] It also means to knock someone senseless, as Livy's king stunned by a sudden blow, or to stupefy with wine.[2][3] In the poets it can mean to kill, as in Silius.[3] Of things it is to calm or settle, as Pliny the Elder's winds put to rest, and Virgil's embers revived from sleep.[3] Church Latin glosses it “lull to sleep”.[4]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of lulling a dragon.[3][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of sleep and death.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the sleeping body.[3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a man stunned by a blow.[2][3][5]
  • 25–101 AD – Silius of killing.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put to sleep, lull to sleep.[2][3][4][1]
  2. To knock senseless, stun; to stupefy with wine.[2][3][1]
  3. (poetic) To kill; in the passive, to die.[3][1]
  4. Of things, to calm, still, settle.[3][1]

Word family

  • consōpiō
  • īnsōpītus
  • obsōpiō
  • resopio
  • sēmisōpītus
  • sōpītiō

Usage notes

A separate noun sōpiō “penis” occurs in Catullus;[2][5] the OLD compares prōsāpia, and Nikolaev derives both from a root “to strike”.[2][1]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de