Etymologically
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subvecto

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Forms

subvectō (present infinitive subvectāre, perfect active subvectāvī, supine subvectātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin subvehō (“to carry up”) + -tō, a frequentative.[2][3] That verb is a compound of sub- and vehō (“to carry”),[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *weχ-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ueǵh-e/o- (“to carry”).[4] Cognate with Sanskrit वहति (váhati, “to carry, convey”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it in the Asinaria of donkeys that used to bring elm rods into town from the farm.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It means to carry or bring something up, often or with effort, uphill, inland or from the coast.[2] Apart from Plautus it belongs to poetry and to prose after Augustus.[3] Virgil uses it of carrying stones on the shoulders and of ferrying bodies across in a skiff;[3][6][5] Columella of loads, Statius of bread baskets and napkins, and Tacitus of ships that had carried grain up the Tiber.[3][6][5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of donkeys carrying rods.[3][5][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of stones carried on the shoulders and of ferrying bodies.[3][5][7]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of loads.[3][6][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of grain carried up the Tiber.[3][6][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To convey (often or laboriously) upwards, or inland from the coast; to carry, bring.[2][3]
  2. To ferry, transport by boat.[3][5]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de