subvenio

Forms

subveniō (present infinitive subvenīre, perfect active subvēnī, supine subventum); fourth conjugation, impersonal in the passive^[1] Plautus has the old future subvenībō.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sub- + veniō (“to come”);^[3][1][2] Lewis and Short take the image from a military reserve coming up in support.^[3][1][2] De Vaan traces ⟨veniō⟩ to Proto-Italic *gʷn-je/o- (“to come”) and Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to come”), cognate with Sanskrit गच्छति (gácchati, “goes, comes”), Ancient Greek βαίνω (baínō, “to go”) and Oscan kúmbened (“has come together”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Casina: quis mihi subveniet tergō … aut crūribus?, “who will come to the help of my back or my legs?”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to come to the help of someone in danger or difficulty, usually with the dative, and also without any sense of motion, as Plautus' father helping a son in love; things can come to the rescue too, as Valerius' eloquence in Valerius Maximus.^[3] It is to bring relief against an ill: Cicero speaks of the goddesses whose help relieves other fires, and of Marius' courage relieving the people's mourning, and remedies relieve illness.^[3] In Statius a thought comes to mind.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “come up to, relieve, assist, come to the aid of”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of coming to help.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of bringing relief.^[3][5]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius of a thought occurring.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come to the help of, assist, rescue.^[3][1][6]
2. To bring relief (against), relieve, remedy.^[3][6]
3. To occur (to the mind).^[3][1]

Word family

• subventiō
• subventō
• subuentor

Related words

• adveniō
• antēveniō
• circumveniō
• contrāveniō
• conveniō
• dēveniō
• ēveniō
• intervenio
• inveniō
• obveniō
• veniō
• subsidium
• succurrō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson