exspiro Latin · revision 31864

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=170–c. 90 BC, Accius|origins=la spīrō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɛks(ː)piː.roː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [eksˈspiː.ro]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''exspīrō''' (present infinitive exspīrāre, perfect active exspīrāvī, supine exspīrātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ Manuscripts very often write ''expīrō'', which Priscian thought the more rational spelling.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ex-|spīrō|t2=to breathe]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The verb [[m|la|spīrō]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*spīr/s-]]; de Vaan thinks it may imitate the sound of breathing, and finds no direct cognates.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Accius,^(de Vaan 2008) who has “you see the grove with vapour breathing out”;^(OLD 2012) Lucilius has breath breathed out of the lungs.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means to breathe out or exhale, as in Lucretius' heat that the earth breathes out, and Pliny the Elder uses it of pearls that lose their colour.^(OLD 2012) ''Animam exspirare'' is to breathe one's last, and the verb alone means to die, as in Sallust's victim whose limbs were broken so that he would die limb by limb.^(OLD 2012) Figuratively it is to come to an end, as in Livy's “would the state have died with me?”, and in law to lapse.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic and post-Augustan, and not used by Cicero or Caesar.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “expire, die, exhale”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of breathing out vapour.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of heat exhaled by the earth.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust of dying.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the death of the state.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – Its descendant enters English as [[m|en|expire]] “to die”, through Old French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To breathe out, [[m|en|exhale]]; to give off; to lose.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To breathe one's last, [[m|en|expire]], die.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To come to an end, [[m|en|perish]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''(law)'' to lapse.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[exspīrātiō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[spiro|alt=spīrō]]

+ * [[spiritus|alt=spīritus]]

+ * [[en|expire]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}