meto Latin · revision 32333

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=itc-pro *met-e-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈmɛ.toː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɛː.to]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''metō''' (present infinitive metere, perfect active messuī, supine messum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*met-e-|t=to reap]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan compares [[cy|medi|t=to mow, harvest]] and Middle Breton [[m|xbm|midiff|t=to harvest]], and further [[lt|mèsti|t=to throw]] and [[lt|mãtas|t=measure]], which point to [[ine-pro|*met-e-|t=to measure]]; the root etymology is disputed, and Schrijver tentatively posits a root [[ine-pro|*h₂m-]] that would also give [[grc|ἀμάω|tr=amáō|t=to reap]].^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary takes it from [[ine-pro|*h₂met-|t=to mow, reap]].^(Wiktionary) The perfect messuī, for an expected ⟨messī⟩, follows other perfects in ⟨-uī⟩.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first, in the ''Poenulus'', of reaping grain, and in the ''Mercator'': “for yourself you plough, for yourself you sow, for yourself you also reap”.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is to reap or harvest grain and other crops, to reap a harvest, as Pliny the Elder says Baetica does among its olives, or to strip a field.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Poets use it of cutting off or cropping, as Tarquin lops the tallest lilies with a stick in Ovid, and Statius has death cutting the threads of the Fates with a sword.^(OLD 2012) Virgil uses it of mowing down men in battle.^(OLD 2012) The noun [[messis]], harvest, and [[messor]], reaper, are made from it.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of reaping grain.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of mowing down men with the sword.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of lopping lilies.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of harvests in Baetica.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|reap]], [[m|en|harvest]] grain or other crops; to reap a field; without an object, to gather the harvest.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To cut off, crop, snip off; to cut through, sever.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To mow down in battle.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dēmetō]]

+ * [[ēmetō]]

+ * [[messīcius]]

+ * [[messiō]]

+ * [[messor]]

+ * [[praemetō]]

+ * [[messis]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate verb ''mētō'', ''-āre'', to measure, is a by-form of [[metor|alt=mētor]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) The OLD also lists Metō or Metōn, the Athenian astronomer who introduced a nineteen-year solar cycle, whence Metōnis annus, an indefinitely long period.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}