suppedito

Forms

suppeditō (present infinitive suppeditāre, perfect active suppeditāvī, supine suppeditātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelled subpeditō.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[1] The OLD takes it apparently from sub- (“under”) and pēs (“foot”), with the plural ⟨pedes⟩ “foot soldiers”, and the verb suffix -ō, first a military metaphor like subministrō (“to supply”).^[2] Lewis and Short suggest that it stands for an unrecorded frequentative ⟨suppetītō⟩ of suppetō (“to be at hand”);^[3] Wiktionary gives both views, the second with voicing of /t/ to /d/.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “so joy comes up to support joy” in the Trinummus, and of money for a lover's needs in the Asinaria;^[2] Köbler too gives Plautus.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Used intransitively with a dative, it is first to come up as a support or reinforcement, as in Plautus, and to come to someone's aid with resources, as Terence's “if I go on supplying his expenses”.^[2] Of resources it is to be available when needed, as Lucilius' “if the money holds out”, and of a person to have the means for something or be equal to a task, as Plautus' slave who cannot keep up with the work.^[2][3] Lucretius asks where the rivers find their supply.^[3]

Used transitively it is to make available or supply what is needed, as Plautus' “so that you can supply the costs of luxury”, with abstract objects such as leisure in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, and with an accusative of the person and an ablative of the thing, as Cicero's “the things we are supplied with”.^[2][3] Church Latin glosses it “give abundantly, furnish”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of support and of paying for luxury.^[2][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of meeting someone's expenses.^[2][4]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of money holding out.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the supply of rivers.^[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To come up as a reinforcement; to come to the aid (of).^[2]
2. (intransitive) To be available, be in abundance; to suffice, be adequate (to).^[2][3][1]
3. (transitive) To supply, furnish, provide.^[2][3][1][5]

Word family

• suppeditātiō

Related words

• suppetō
• subministrō
• pēs

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson