sortior

Forms

sortior (present infinitive sortīrī, perfect active sortītus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent^[1] An active sortiō is also found.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from sors (“lot”) with the verbal suffix -iō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ⟨sors⟩ to Proto-Italic *sorti- (“joining”) and Proto-Indo-European *sr̥-ti- (“joining, joint”), from the root of serō (“to join, string”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Plautus' Casina: “I'll throw the lots into the urn and draw for you and Chalinus”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is to draw lots, as in Plautus, and Pliny the Elder uses it of the Gauls divining with vervain.^[2] With an object it is to assign or appoint by lot, as Cicero's praetor choosing judges by lot, and by extension to select, as Virgil's farmer who chooses stock for the herd each year.^[2][3] It is also to obtain by lot, as Propertius' nine Muses, and to receive as one's portion, as Horace's “that I got you as a friend by chance”.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “cast lots, decide by lot, choose, distribute, select, obtain, get”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of drawing lots.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of appointing by lot.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of choosing.^[2][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of what falls to one's lot.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cast or draw lots; to divine.^[2][1]
2. To assign or appoint by lot; to choose, select.^[2][1][5]
3. To obtain by lot; to receive as one's portion.^[2][1]

Word family

• sortītiō
• sortītō
• sortītor
• sortītus
• subsortior

Related words

• sors
• serō
• English sort

References

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