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sublabor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word sublabor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin (lābor)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin labor
French labeur
Latin prolabor
Latin lapsus
Latin dilabor
Latin relabor
Latin delabor
Latin sublabor

Forms

sublābor (present infinitive sublābī, perfect active sublāpsus sum); third conjugation, deponent[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- (“under”) + lābor1 (“to slip, glide”).[1][2] De Vaan treats the simple verb with labō (“to waver”); he discusses a root meaning “weak” but finds the ablaut ⟨lab-⟩ : ⟨lāb-⟩ hard to explain.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Georges and Conte cite it first from Virgil,[2][4] who writes retrō sublāpsa referrī spēs, of hope slipping back and fading,[4] and prīma luēs ūdō sublāpsa venēnō pertemptat sēnsūs, “the first infection, creeping in with its moist poison, steals over the senses”.[1][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.[5] Besides Virgil's “creep in stealthily”,[1][2] it means to sink or fall down: in Seneca the Elder a body collapses when the breath is cut off,[1][4] and in Seneca unfinished things slip back or give way.[5][2] Seneca also uses it of underground rivers that sink away,[1] and of memory slipping away with long neglect.[2] Pliny the Younger writes of buildings fallen into decay with age, aedificia vetustāte sublāpsa.[5][2]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of hope slipping back and of poison creeping in.[1][4][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of things that sink or slip away.[1][5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To creep up stealthily, glide in.[1][2][4]
  2. To fall to the ground, collapse.[1][4]
  3. To sink or ebb away; to slip back, fade.[1][4]
  4. To fall into decay.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  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 h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Sublabor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/sublabor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·