circumvallo Latin · revision 34383

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=190–159 BC, Terence|origins=la vallum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kɪr.kʊmˈwaːl.loː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃir.kumˈval.lo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''circumvāllō''' (present infinitive circumvāllāre, perfect active circumvāllāvī, supine circumvāllātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|circum-|vallō|t1=around|t2=to fortify with a rampart]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The verb is formed from [[m|la|vallum|t=palisade, rampart]],^(OLD 2012)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) whose origin de Vaan leaves open: Schrijver's connection with [[grc|ἧλος|tr=hêlos|t=nail]] is possible but not compelling.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The earliest example is figurative, in Terence (190–159 BC): so many troubles suddenly close in on a man in a blockade from which he cannot get out (''tot res repente circumvallant se'').^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical prose it is a military term, to surround with siegeworks, to blockade: Cicero writes that Pompey has been shut in, Caesar that he invested a town in two days, and it is common in the historians.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) More widely it means to beset or hem in, as with the consuls trapped by the Samnites at Caudium in Gellius,^(OLD 2012) and to surround with any barrier: a shoal of fish caught in a huge net in Manilius, a plot ringed by two furrows in Columella, an island ringed by the sea in Silius.^(OLD 2012) Statius splits it by tmesis.^(TLL)^(OLD 2012) Lactantius has paradise surrounded with fire, and Claudian Bellona surrounded by the senate.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it figuratively of troubles closing in.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Pompey being blockaded.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of investing towns.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it of ringing a plot with furrows.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of the consuls hemmed in at Caudium.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To surround with [[m|en|siegework|alt=siegeworks]], [[m|en|blockade]], [[m|en|invest]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To beset, surround (with troops); ''(figurative)'' to hem in.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To surround (with a net, furrows, the sea and the like).^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(reflexive, figurative)'' To close in as a blockade.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}