submoveo

Forms

submoveō (present infinitive submovēre, perfect active submōvī, supine submōtum); second conjugation^[1] It is also spelled summoveō.^[2][1] Horace has a pluperfect subjunctive submōssēs.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sub- + moveō (“to move”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨moveō⟩ to Proto-Italic *mow(a)- and Proto-Indo-European *mewh₁- (“to move”), and compares Hittite mau- (“to fall”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is a fragment of Plautus, of driving off the enemy: sī summoventur hostēs.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to move people out of a place, especially to clear the crowd from the path of a magistrate, as Varro's aediles with their attendants, to keep someone from entering, and to remove animals from a flock (Columella).^[2] Of things it is to push aside, as Virgil's clouds driven off, to ward off heat or light, and to set back, as a deep cave.^[2] It is to drive enemies from a position, to banish or dismiss, to debar from something, and in law to bar from a claim (Gaius); Cicero has it of deterring men from crime, and Livy of a war kept away from Rome.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “move away, put away, dispel”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of driving off enemies.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of removing persons and deterring.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of clearing the way for magistrates.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of clouds driven away.^[2][5]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius of barring a legal claim.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move (persons) out of the way, clear (the crowd for a magistrate); to keep off.^[2][1]
2. To push aside, remove; to ward off (heat, cold); to set back.^[2][4]
3. To drive off (enemies), dislodge.^[2]
4. To banish, expel; to dismiss.^[2][1]
5. To debar, exclude, (law) to bar (from a claim); to deter.^[2]
6. To ward off, dispel (a danger).^[2][4]

Related words

• moveō
• āmoveō
• removeō

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 n o p q r 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de