suborno

Forms

subōrnō (present infinitive subōrnāre, perfect active subōrnāvī, supine subōrnātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- + ōrnō (“to equip, adorn”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan takes ōrnō as the original verb formed from ōrdō (“row, order”), through ⟨*ōrd-n-āre⟩; the origin of that noun is uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the OLD's earliest quotations Cicero exclaims that Roscius suborned a false witness, and writes of how man comes into life equipped by nature.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short separate senses where the verb prevails, to fit out or equip, from those where the prefix does, to incite secretly.^[6] In the first, Antony writes of furnishing someone with money, Plancus asks Cicero to equip those in the battle line, and Seneca has men dressed up as soldiers.^[6] Petronius has a host who keeps a trumpeter dressed for the purpose, so that he always knows how much of his life he has lost.^[2] In the second it is to prepare or instruct someone for an underhand purpose, above all to suborn a witness, in Cicero and Quintilian.^[2][6] Church Latin glosses it to instigate secretly, bribe, equip, provide.^[7] English suborn comes from it, partly through French, from the 1530s.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of suborning a false witness.^[2][6][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of men dressed as soldiers.^[6][5]
• before 66 AD – Petronius of a trumpeter kept dressed for duty.^[2][5]
• 1530s – English suborn.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To supply, equip, furnish.^[2][6][1][7]
2. To dress up, disguise; to put on an appearance.^[2]
3. To prepare or instruct secretly; to suborn a witness, instigate.^[2][6][1][7]

Word family

• subornator
• subornātrix

Related words

• ōrnō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson