titubo Latin · revision 32732

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=onomatopoeia|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈtɪ.tʊ.boː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈtiː.tu.bo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''titubō''' (present infinitive titubāre, perfect active titubāvī, supine titubātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The OLD calls it onomatopoeic.^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary takes it as a reduplicated form of [[ine-pro|*(s)tewp-]], from [[m|ine-pro|*(s)tew-|t=to push, hit]], and compares [[stupeo|alt=stupeō]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first quotations are in Plautus: the ''Pseudolus'' has weeping with a wavering mind, and in the ''Miles Gloriosus'' Philocomasium must be told not to slip up if the soldier questions her.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its bodily sense is to walk unsteadily, especially when drunk, to stagger: the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' has an opponent who blushed, went pale and faltered, and Ovid has Silenus staggering with years and wine and someone reeling as if they had drunk neat wine.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Phaedrus has a man coming home late on a staggering foot.^(OLD 2012) Of things it is to rock or quake, as Seneca's tottering buildings, and of the bodily powers to falter, as the tongue.^(OLD 2012) From Plautus on it is also to waver in mind: Cicero describes Licinius wavering, hesitating and giving way.^(OLD 2012) It is also to make a slip in speech or action: Cicero says of people who come from a single house that if they slip in one word they will have nowhere to turn.^(OLD 2012) Döderlein says it refers to the feet that fail and stagger, unlike [[labo|alt=labāre]], which is said of the whole body, and [[vacillo|alt=vacillāre]], of the upper body.^(Döderlein 1874) English [[m|en|titubate]] (1570s) is from its past participle.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a wavering heart and of slipping up.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a hesitating witness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of Silenus staggering with wine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of tottering buildings and a faltering tongue.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1570s – English ''titubate''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|stagger]], totter, reel (especially when drunk); of things, to rock, quake; of the faculties, to falter.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # To [[m|en|waver]], hesitate, be uncertain.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # To make a slip in speech or action, stumble.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[subtitubo]]

+ * [[titubantia]]

+ * [[titubātiō]]

+ * [[titubanter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|titubate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}