subiaceo

Forms

subiaceō (present infinitive subiacēre, perfect active subiacuī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- (“under”) + iaceō (“to lie”).^[2][1] De Vaan explains the simple verb as the stative counterpart of iaciō (“to throw”), first “to be thrown down”, then “to lie”; it goes back to Proto-Italic *jak-ē- (“to lie down”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan;^[4] it is found in Columella, who says that a field lies below a building,^[5][6] and in Pliny the Elder.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It means to lie under or near something: Pliny the Elder uses it of grain lying under roof tiles,^[4][5] Curtius of rocks lying below,^[4][6] Pliny the Younger of a forecourt lying under the windows of his villa,^[4][5] and Seneca of a river at the foot of a mountain.^[2] It also meant to lie exposed to something, as Columella's part of a meadow open to the west wind.^[2][6] Figuratively, in Quintilian, it is to come under a heading, of the questions that belong to one kind of case,^[2][5][6] and in Apuleius to be subject or exposed to something, as the poor are to the power of the rich.^[5] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to lie under, to be subject to and to belong to.^[7]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a field below a building.^[5][6][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of things lying underneath.^[2][4][8]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of what comes under a heading.^[2][5][8]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it in the sense “be subject to”.^[5][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lie underneath; to be placed below.^[2][4]
2. To lie at the foot or edge of, to lie near.^[2][5]
3. To form an underlying feature.^[2]
4. To lie exposed (to).^[2][6]
5. To come under the heading (of), belong (to).^[2][5]
6. To be subject (to).^[5][7]

Word family

• subiacēns
• subiacentia

Related words

• adiaceō
• circumiaceō
• iaceō
• interiaceō
• obiaceō
• praeiaceō
• subteriaceō
• superiaceō
• subiciō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de