vacefio

Forms

vacēfīō (present infinitive vacēfierī); third conjugation, semi-deponent, no supine stem, irregular long ī^[1]

Etymology

According to the OLD it is from Latin vacuus (“empty”) + fīō (“to become”), comparing vacuēfaciō (“to make empty”).^[2] Wiktionary thinks it more likely to come from a lost stative verb *vacēō (“to be empty”) with ⟨fīō⟩, like calvēfīō.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius uses it twice, both in book 6: multusque vacēfit in mediō locus, “and much space becomes empty in between”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short know it only from these two lines of Lucretius,^[3] and Georges treats it under vacuēfaciō.^[5]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it twice.^[3][4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To become empty, be vacated.^[2][3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de