substringo

Forms

substringō (present infinitive substringere, perfect active substrinxī, supine substrictum); third conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- + stringō (“to draw tight, bind”).^[1][3] De Vaan notes that all the compounds of the verb mean “tie, tighten”, and traces this meaning to Proto-Italic *strenge/o- (“to tie”) and Proto-Indo-European *strengh-e/o- (“to draw, tie”); the sense “strip” of the simple verb comes from a separate root.^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek στραγγός (strangós, “twisted, crooked”) and Old Norse strengja (“to bind together”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nepos uses it of tying up a horse's head with a strap, and Horace of pricking up the ear (aurem substringe).^[1][3][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan in prose.^[3] Tacitus uses it of tying the hair in a knot, Lucan of hair bound up, Seneca of taking in sails, Silius of sails bound to the mast, and Suetonius of flesh bound with a bandage.^[3][2] Columella uses it of oxen that have become constricted, and Silius of bodies made lean.^[1] Figuratively it meant to hold in check: Quintilian of cutting back an exuberant style, and Juvenal of keeping down one's anger.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses it of tying up a horse's head.^[1][2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of pricking up the ear.^[3][2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the participle of legs drawn in.^[1][3][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of restraining an exuberant style.^[3][2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of tying the hair in a knot.^[3][5]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of keeping down anger.^[1][2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw in, gather up, tuck in (something hanging loose).^[1][3]
2. To tie up, bind tight (with a strap or cord); to constrict.^[1][3][2]
3. To make lean or shrunken.^[1]
4. (figurative) To hold in check, restrain.^[1][3][2]

Related words

• stringō
• restringō

Usage notes

The participle substrictus is used as an adjective, “drawn in, narrow, tight”, by Ovid, Pliny the Elder and Gellius, and Columella has the comparative substrictior.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de