merso Latin · revision 33413

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=ine-pro *mesg-e/o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈmɛr.soː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɛr.so]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mersō''' (present infinitive mersāre, perfect active mersāvī, supine mersātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a frequentative, [[af|la|mergō|-tō|t1=to dip, sink]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|mergō]] to [[itc-pro|*mezge/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*mesg-e/o-|t=to sink, wash]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[sa|मज्जन्ति|tr=májjanti|t=they sink, plunge under]] and [[lt|mazgóti|t=to wash]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan records it from Lucretius on;^(de Vaan 2008) Lucretius contrasts a time when want brought death with the present, when abundance drowns: ''nunc rerum copia mersat''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Its literal sense is to dip or immerse: Virgil has the bleating flock dipped in a healthful river,^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace a live hen drowned in Falernian wine,^(OLD 2012) and Tacitus a man carried into a bath and plunged in hot water.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively it is to overwhelm or plunge into ruin, as Catullus' ''fortunae fluctibus'', the waves of fortune,^(OLD 2012) and Horace's ''mersor civilibus undis'', “I plunge into the waves of public life”.^(Lewis & Short 1879) An inscription has ''maerore mersor'', “I am overwhelmed with grief”.^(OLD 2012) In Martianus Capella the passive is used of stars setting.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of abundance that overwhelms.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus, of the waves of fortune.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of dipping a flock.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 5th century AD – Martianus Capella, of stars setting.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To dip, [[m|en|immerse]] (in a liquid).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To [[m|en|submerge]], drown; to plunge in ruin, [[m|en|overwhelm]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(passive, of stars)'' To set.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mergō]]

+ * [[mertō]]

+ * [[immergō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}