tribulo

Forms

trībulō (present infinitive trībulāre, perfect active trībulāvī, supine trībulātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin trībulum (“threshing sledge”).^[2][1][3] The noun belongs with terō (“to rub”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub”).^[4] A bilingual glossary renders it Ancient Greek θλίβω (thlíbō, “to press”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cato's treatise on agriculture, in a recipe in which boiled-down must is stirred into the grapes: the mixture is to be pressed every day (tribulato cotidie).^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Fronto uses it figuratively, of tolls on horses and camels on the Euphrates and the Tigris that Trajan exacted in person.^[2][8]

In Christian Latin it took the sense “oppress, afflict”, the sense of its noun tribulātiō: Tertullian writes in omnibus tribulemur, “let us be afflicted in all things”,^[6][3] and the Vulgate uses it in the Psalms.^[3][8][9] Wiktionary lists Aromanian triyir as a descendant.^[1]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for pressing grapes.^[2][7]
• 100–170 AD – Fronto uses it of exacting tolls.^[2][7]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for affliction.^[6][7]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it in the sense “afflict”.^[6][7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Psalms.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To press, squeeze.^[2][6]
2. (figurative) To exact (dues).^[2][8]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To oppress, afflict, torment.^[6][3][9]

Word family

• contrībulō
• trībulātiō
• adtribulō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c 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