enervo Latin · revision 33800

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *snéh₁-ur}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [eːˈnɛr.woː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [eˈnɛr.vo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ēnervō''' (present infinitive ēnervāre, perfect active ēnervāvī, supine ēnervātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ēnervis|-ō|t1=without sinews, feeble]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) or formed directly from [[m|la|ex-]] and [[m|la|nervus|t=sinew]].^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|nervus]] to [[itc-pro|*(s)nēuro-]] and [[ine-pro|*snéh₁-ur|t=sinew]], cognate with [[grc|νεῦρον|tr=neûron|t=sinew]] and [[sa|स्नावन्|tr=snā́van|t=sinew]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds the verb and its participle from Cicero,^(TLL) in whose ''On Old Age'' the speaker says that old age has not quite sapped his strength.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is mostly figurative, to take away the strength of a person, a character or a body, to weaken or enervate; the TLL records it in Cicero, Horace, Ovid and Livy.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) The literal sense, to cut the sinews, is in the elder Seneca, who has one man's arms cut off and another's sinews cut,^(OLD 2012) and Lewis & Short find it rare and post-classical, as Apuleius' hamstringing with an axe.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Prudentius scans the first syllable short.^(Lewis & Short 1879) English [[m|en|enervate]] comes from its participle and dates from about 1600;^(Etymonline) Middle English had ''enerve'' from about 1400.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of old age sapping strength.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of hamstringing.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1600 – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|enervate]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cut the [[m|en|sinew|alt=sinews]] of; to [[m|en|hamstring]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To take away the strength of, weaken, enervate; to make effeminate.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ēnervis]]

+ * [[nervus]]

+ * [[ēnervātus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}