Etymologically
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supinus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sʊˈpiː.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [suˈpiː.nus][1]

Forms

supīnus (feminine supīna, neuter supīnum, superlative supinissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *supīno- (“upwards”), an adjective in ⟨-īnus⟩ from the old sense “upwards” of sub (“under”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)upo (“up, from below”).[2][3] De Vaan rejects Leumann's view that it contains the root “to go”.[2] The OLD and Lewis & Short compare Ancient Greek ὕπτιος (húptios, “lying on the back”).[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus;[2] Ennius has “struck, he fell back on his buttocks, face up”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means lying face upwards, the opposite of prōnus, also of objects laid flat, as the bridge in Catullus that may fall on its back into the marsh.[3][4] Of hands it is turned palm upwards, in spinning and especially in prayer.[3] It also means turned back or upwards, as Lucretius' oars that seem bent back up in the water, and of a stream flowing back to its source, as in Ovid.[3] Of land it is flat or gently sloping, and Cicero has it of images turned upside down in a mirror.[3] Figuratively it is inactive, passive or languid, as in Martial.[3][4]

Church Latin glosses it “lying on the back, supine, lazy, indifferent, careless”,[5] and in grammar it names the supine.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a head thrown back.[3][2][6]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of a man fallen on his back.[3][6]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a bridge and of upturned hands.[3][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of oars seen in water.[3][6]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial of a languid reader.[3][6]
  • c. 1500 – Borrowed into English as supine.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Lying on the back, face upwards, supine; of hands, palm upwards.[3][4][1]
  2. Turned back or upwards; of a stream, flowing back to its source.[3][4][1]
  3. Of land, flat, low-lying, gently sloping.[3][4]
  4. Upside down, inverted.[3]
  5. Inactive, passive, languid, indolent.[3][4][1]
  6. (grammar) Of the supine.[1]

Word family

  • sub
  • English supine

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com