Etymologically
Log in

undo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:23. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈʊn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈun.do][1]

Forms

undō (present infinitive undāre, perfect active undāvī, supine undātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin unda (“wave”) + -ō.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces unda to Proto-Italic *udōr and Proto-Indo-European *ud-ōr (“water”), cognate with Umbrian utur (“water”) and Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”); he thinks the ā-stem and the sense "wave" may come from an old collective "body of water".[4] De Vaan dates the verb from Plautus.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citations are Ennius, of the surging sea and of an army abounding in booty.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means of the sea and rivers to rise in waves, surge or flood: Accius, quoted by Cicero, speaks of a surging strait, and Seneca of the equinoctial tide.[3][2] Virgil uses it of bronze pots seething over the flames, of a wound streaming with blood, and of smoke billowing mixed with dust.[2] Seneca has Cithaeron running with blood.[2] It also means to move like a wave, undulate: Plautus mocks someone who makes his cloak billow by shaking it.[2] Silius Italicus uses it of wavering grief.[2] With an ablative it means to abound in, as Ennius' army abounding in booty.[2] Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan in prose.[3] Stelten gives "surge, swell, undulate, flow" for Church Latin.[5]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of the surging sea and of an army rich in booty.[2]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a billowing cloak.[2][4]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of a surging strait.[3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of seething pots and billowing smoke.[2]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of the tide and of Cithaeron running with blood.[3][2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (of the sea, rivers) To rise in waves, surge, flood;[2][3][1][5] (of hot water) to seethe.[2][3][1][5]
  2. (of liquids) To gush, well up;[2] (of wounds, places) to stream or run (with blood).[2]
  3. (of smoke) To billow.[2]
  4. To move in waves, undulate;[2][1] (of people, feelings) to waver.[2][1]
  5. (with ablative) To abound in.[2][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson