Etymologically
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sorbeo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsɔr.be.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsɔr.be.o][1]

Forms

sorbeō (present infinitive sorbēre, perfect active sorbuī or sorpsī, supine sorbitum or sorptum); second conjugation[1] Apuleius has a present subjunctive sorbāmus.[2][3] A perfect sorpsī is found in Valerius Maximus and was noted as a vulgarism.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sorfeie-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *srobʰ-eie- (“to take various sips, slurp”).[4] De Vaan compares Hittite šarāp- (“to sip”) and Ancient Greek ῥοφέω (rhophéō, “to slurp, gulp”), and the OLD Lithuanian srēbiù.[4][2] If the root had the full grade ⟨*srebʰ-⟩, as the Lithuanian and Greek forms indicate, the Latin ⟨sorb-⟩ must be secondary.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.[4] In the OLD's earliest quotation Plautus speaks of sisters who suck men's blood.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to drink or suck up: Pliny the Elder has an octopus sucking with its cups at divers it attacks.[2] Figuratively it is to absorb: Cicero writes that he must not only swallow someone's hatred but digest it.[2] It is also to breathe in: Lucretius says that when we breathe the mixed air we must take that in too.[2] Of things it is to soak up, as dry earth drinking in rain in Ovid.[2] Of whirlpools it is to suck in, engulf: Sallust describes Charybdis swallowing ships in hidden eddies.[2] Seneca uses it of boats that ship water.[2] Church Latin glosses it to suck up, swallow, absorb.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sucking blood.[2][4][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of breathing in.[2][5]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of Charybdis.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of an octopus.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drink up, suck up; to swallow.[2][3][1][6]
  2. Figuratively, to absorb, take in.[2][6]
  3. To breathe in, inhale.[2]
  4. Of things, to soak up; of whirlpools, to engulf; of boats, to ship water.[2]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson