urvo

Forms

urvō (present infinitive urvāre); first conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1] It is also spelled urbo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin urvum (“curved part of a plough”).^[4][3][5] The origin of the noun is disputed: de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *worw-o- (“plough, furrow”) and, with a query, Proto-Indo-European *u(o)ru-o-.^[4] The OLD takes the verb as probably cognate with Ancient Greek ὅρος (hóros, “boundary”),^[2] a comparison that de Vaan also reports for the noun; he calls the connection of Oscan uruvú uncertain, since its meaning is unclear.^[4]

Festus explained Ennius' ⟨urvat⟩ as “surrounds”, from the furrow made with the plough's urvum when a city is founded.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Ennius' tragedy Andromeda, quoted by Festus: circum sese urvat ad pedes, “it rings itself round at the feet”, which Festus glosses as “surrounds”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Its proper use was for tracing a furrow with a plough to mark out boundaries, especially the circuit of a new town.^[2][5][7] The jurist Pomponius defines it in the Digest: urvare est aratro definire, “to urvare is to mark out with the plough”.^[3]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses urvat in his Andromeda.^[3][8]
• second half of the 2nd century AD – Festus explains Ennius' word.^[3][8]
• 533 AD – The Digest preserves Pomponius' definition.^[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To mark out the boundaries of an area, especially the site of a new town, by ploughing a furrow.^[2][6][7]
2. To surround, encircle (Festus' explanation of Ennius).^[3]

Related words

• urvum

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de