sublego

Forms

sublegō (present infinitive sublegere, perfect active sublēgī, supine sublēctum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- + legō² (“to gather, choose”).^[2][1] De Vaan derives that verb from Proto-Italic *leg-e- and Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-e/o- (“to collect”), and notes that the compounds in ⟨-legere⟩, which keep the vowel ⟨e⟩, are relatively recent formations.^[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek λέγω (légō, “to collect, count; speak”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Plautus, who uses it of children stolen from their parents in the Rudens and of a conversation overheard on the sly in the Miles gloriosus.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The plain sense is to pick something up from the ground: Horace writes of a boy who picks up whatever is lying about and could annoy the diners, and Columella of gathering olives fallen in storms and green figs.^[2][6][4] The idea of taking something from below or behind gave the sense of taking it by stealth, used of kidnapping and, figuratively, of catching words or songs unnoticed, in Turpilius and Virgil.^[2][4][5]

In public language it meant to choose someone for a place left vacant by another: an old law about the viatores uses it,^[2] Livy writes of filling the places of dead senators, and Tacitus and Valerius Maximus of enrolling families among the patricians or men into the senate.^[6][4][5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of stealing children and of overhearing.^[2][4][7]
• 2nd century BC – Turpilius uses it of overhearing talk.^[4][7]
• 116–27 BC – Varro explains sublectī as men chosen in place of others.^[6][4][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of songs picked up by stealth.^[4][5][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of picking things up from the floor.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of filling the places of dead senators.^[6][5][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of adding families to the patricians.^[6][4][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pick up from the ground, gather up from below.^[2][6]
2. To take away secretly, steal (children); to pick up (words, songs) by eavesdropping.^[2][4][5]
3. To appoint to a place left vacant, choose as a substitute; to add (members) to a body.^[2][6][5]

Word family

• sublectio
• sublēctus

Related words

• dīligō
• ēligō
• intellegō
• neglegō
• perlegō
• legō²
• colligō¹
• relegō²

Usage notes

Varro distinguishes colleagues chosen together, those chosen in the place of others (sublectī) and those added (allectī).^[6][4]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de