oppeto Latin · revision 32875

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=204–169 BC, Ennius|origins=la petō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɔp.pɛ.toː]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''oppetō''' (present infinitive oppetere, perfect active oppetīvī or oppetiī, supine oppetītum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''obpetō''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ob-|petō|t2=to make for, seek]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|petō]] to [[itc-pro|*pet-e/o-]] and connects it with a root meaning to fly, assuming a shift from flying up towards something to trying to get it.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lewis & Short's first example is from a tragedy of Ennius, quoted by Cicero: to meet an evil plague.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) Plautus has the same phrase.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is to go to meet something, usually an evil, and above all death: with ⟨mortem⟩ it means to meet one's death.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) The OLD stresses a premature death or fate.^(OLD 2012) Used without an object, understood as death, it means to perish: Virgil writes of the Mycenaean leader who fell at his own threshold by the hand of his wife.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short give [[obeo|alt=obeō]], [[occumbo|alt=occumbō]] and [[intereo|alt=intereō]] as synonyms.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Church Latin glosses it to encounter or meet with.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of meeting an evil plague.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the same phrase.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it without an object, of a leader who perished.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To go to meet, [[m|en|encounter]], usually an evil; with ''mortem'', to meet one's death.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Without an object, to meet one's end, [[m|en|perish]], often before one's time.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[peto|alt=petō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}