Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Latin word suborior

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
first quarter of the 1st century BC, Atta
Ultimate origin
Latin orior
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin orior
Latin suborior
From the same root
Latin aborior ← orior
Latin coorior ← orior
Latin oborior ← orior
Latin origo ← orior

Forms

suborior (present infinitive suborīrī, perfect active subortus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent[1][2] Conte and VOLI also give third-conjugation forms such as suboreris.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- + orior (“to rise, arise”).[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest uses are in the comic poet Atta, of seditious talk that tends to spring up,[1][2] and in Lucretius, of a supply of matter that must keep arising from the infinite.[1][4]

Semantic evolution

Lucretius uses it of matter coming into being to replace what is used up,[1] and Pliny the Elder of a wealth of metals renewing itself through so many ages.[1][5] Seneca has it of tears welling up in the eyes (lacrimae suboriuntur oculīs tuīs).[1][2] Later writers such as Arnobius and Augustine used it,[5][2] Boethius of a difficult question arising,[6] and Stelten records it in Ecclesiastical Latin as “arise, proceed”.[7]

Timeline

  • first quarter of the 1st century BC – Atta uses it of talk springing up.[1][4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of matter arising to replace what is lost.[1][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of tears welling up.[1][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of metals renewing themselves.[1][4]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (of liquid) To well up, spring up;[1][2] (of speech, thoughts) to arise.[1][2]
  2. To come into being in succession, be renewed, be replenished.[1][6][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry

“Suborior.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/suborior. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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