subrigo

Forms

subrigō (present infinitive subrigere, perfect active subrēxī, supine subrēctum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- (“up from under”) + regō (“to direct, keep straight”),^[2][3][4] also spelled ⟨surr-⟩; the contracted form surgō is normally used for the intransitive senses.^[2][4] regō goes back to Proto-Italic *reg-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to stretch, direct”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest use in the OLD is intransitive, in Cicero's poem on Marius, where Jupiter's winged attendant rises from the trunk of a tree, piercing a snake with its talons.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Transitively it means to raise something into an upright position: Virgil has a monster pricking up as many ears as it has feathers, Livy a soldier with his sword point raised, Seneca standards held aloft and towers built up on both sides of a villa.^[2][7] In the passive it means “to stand up”, as the hair of angry people, in Seneca, or the branches of trees in Pliny the Elder.^[2][3] Seneca also uses it of earthquakes raising level ground.^[8][3]

Later Ambrose uses it of training up a vine, and Augustine figuratively of raising monks up to a ruinous pride.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a bird rising aloft.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of ears pricked up.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of a raised sword point.^[2][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of hair standing on end.^[2][6]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of a vine.^[4][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it figuratively, of raising monks to pride.^[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To raise to an upright position, erect; to prick up (the ears); to tilt upwards.^[2][4][7]
2. (passive) To stand up, stand on end.^[2][3]
3. (intransitive) To rise up, rise aloft.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.