superfundo

Forms

superfundō (present infinitive superfundere, perfect active superfūdī, supine superfūsum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin super- (“over”) + fundō (“to pour”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces fundō to Proto-Italic *χund- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰu-n-d- (“to pour”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest OLD citations are Livy, of games prevented when the Circus was flooded by the overflowing Tiber, and Ovid, of bathing in poured water.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to pour something over a surface, often with a dative: Ovid has bodies dipped in water poured over them,^[2] and Columella tells the reader to pour oil over a mixture.^[2][4] Tacitus uses it of a great shower of missiles.^[4] In the passive it is used of liquids spilling over, as the Tiber in Livy,^[2] and figuratively of anything that cannot be held in, especially of invaders spreading over a land;^[2] Seneca compares bodies that can draw in under their armour with those that spread out.^[2] It also means to shower something upon someone, give it profusely.^[1] Lewis & Short call it mostly poetic and post-Augustan, absent from Cicero and Caesar.^[4] Stelten gives "pour over or out, extend" for Church Latin.^[5]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the overflowing Tiber.^[2]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of poured water.^[2]
• 1st century AD – Columella of pouring oil.^[2][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of a shower of missiles.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pour over or upon; to cover with something poured over.^[2][4][1][5]
2. (passive, of liquids) To spill over;^[2] (of invaders) to spread over.^[2]
3. (figurative) To shower upon, give profusely.^[1]

Word family

• superfusio

Related words

• fundō
• offundō
• effundō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson