suadeo

Forms

suādeō (present infinitive suādēre, perfect active suāsī, supine suāsum); second conjugation^[1] Lucretius scans sŭādent as three syllables.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *swādeje- (“to render agreeable”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *su(o)h₂d-eie- (“to make tasty”), a causative of the root of suāvis (“sweet, pleasant”); that causative would regularly have given ⟨*sōdē-⟩, so the root form of the adjective was probably brought into the verb.^[4][1] The sense “to recommend” comes from “to make sweet, make agreeable”.^[4][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἁνδάνω (handánō, “to please”), Ancient Greek ἡδύς (hēdús, “sweet”), Sanskrit स्वदति (svádati) and Old English swēte (“sweet”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has modo quod suāsit, id dissuādet, “what he urged just now, he now advises against”, and makes a couch malitiam … suādeat, “suggest mischief”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Suādēre is “to recommend, urge, advise” a course of action, with a dative of the person, ut, nē or an infinitive.^[2][3][1] In public life it is “to speak in favour of” a law or proposal (Cicero: Catō lēgem suādēns, “Cato, speaking for the law”).^[2][1] Things can be its subject, “to suggest, prompt”, and with an accusative and infinitive it is “to try to persuade that”.^[2][3]

Church Latin glosses it “to persuade, exhort, advise, urge, suggest, recommend, propose”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: modo quod suāsit, id dissuādet.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius scans it as three syllables.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: Catō lēgem suādēns.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To recommend, advise, urge.^[2][3][1][6]
2. To speak in favour of, advocate (a law or proposal).^[2][1]
3. To suggest, prompt (of things).^[2]
4. To try to persuade (that).^[2][1][6]

Word family

• cōnsuādeō
• dissuādeō
• persuādeō
• suādēla
• suādibilis
• suādus
• suāsiō
• suāsor
• suāsum
• suāsus
• benesuādus
• suādenter

Related words

• suāvis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c 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 c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson