Etymologically
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supervivo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sʊ.pɛrˈwiː.woː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [su.perˈviː.vo][1]

Forms

supervīvō (present infinitive supervīvere, perfect active supervīxī); third conjugation, no supine stem, impersonal in the passive[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin super- (“over, beyond”) + vīvō (“to live”).[2][1][3] Through Anglo-Norman and Old French souvivre it is the source of English survive.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short call it post-Augustan.[4] In his life of Caesar, Suetonius writes of the assassins neque trienniō quisquam amplius supervīxit, “none survived more than three years”.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

With the dative it means to outlive a person or event:[2][4] Pliny the Younger says of a man that he outlived his own glory by thirty years,[4][6] and Florus, Apuleius and the Historia Augusta use it in the same way.[4][5] Without an object it means simply to survive, as in the Vulgate's Exodus, of one who survives a day or two.[4][5] Servius remarks that older writers said vīvendō vincere for it.[5]

Ecclesiastical Latin keeps “outlive”.[7] In British Medieval Latin it appears in agreements that depend on which party survives the other.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it absolutely, of Caesar's assassins.[5][6][9]
  • c. 120 AD – Florus: expedītiōnī superfuit et supervīxit.[4][9]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it with the dative.[4][5][9]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it absolutely in Exodus.[4][5][9]
  • mid-15th century – Borrowed into English, through French, as survive.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (with dative) to outlive, live longer than.[2][4][5][7]
  2. (absolute) to survive, remain alive.[4][5][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de