transverbero

Forms

trānsverberō (present infinitive trānsverberāre, perfect active trānsverberāvī, supine trānsverberātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin trāns- (“across, through”) + verberō¹ (“to beat, strike”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists the simple verb among the derivatives of verbera (“twigs for flogging, lashes”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *werb/fos (“twig, whip”) and, with a query, to Proto-Indo-European *uerb(h)-es-.^[4] He compares Lithuanian vir̃bas (“stick, twig”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in a letter of a fine beast transfixed by a hunting spear (venabulo transverberatur).^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It means to strike so as to pierce through, to transfix: Virgil uses it of a spear piercing the bronze of a shield and of a chest pierced with a shaft of fir, Livy of a shield, Seneca of running oneself through with a sword.^[2][5][7] Tacitus has in utrumque latus transverberatus, pierced through from side to side.^[5][6][8] Apuleius uses it figuratively of birds that cut through the air in flight.^[7][6][8] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to pierce or perforate.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of a beast transfixed by a hunting spear.^[5][10]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of spears piercing a shield and a chest.^[5][8][10]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus has in utrumque latus transverberatus.^[5][8][10]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of birds cutting through the air.^[7][8][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To strike through, pierce through, transfix.^[2][5][7][9]
2. (figurative) To cut through (the air), of birds.^[7][6][8]

Related words

• verberō¹
• verbera

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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de