Etymologically
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superfundo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sʊ.pɛrˈfʊn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [su.perˈfun.do][1]

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

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