Etymologically
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subvenio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sʊbˈwɛ.ni.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [subˈvɛː.ni.o][1]

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

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