obtorqueo Latin · revision 36637

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *torkʷ-eie-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɔpˈtɔr.kʷe.oː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [obˈtɔr.kʷe.o]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''obtorqueō''' (present infinitive obtorquēre, perfect active obtorsī, supine obtortum); second conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ Plautus also spells it ''optorqueō''.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ob-|torqueō|t2=to twist]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|torqueō]] to [[itc-pro|*torkʷ-eie-|t=to twist]] and [[ine-pro|*torkʷ-eie-|t=to make twist]], a causative verb.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[hit|tar(k)u-zi|t=to dance]], [[sa|तर्कय|tr=tarkaya-|t=to consider]] and [[txb|tärk-|t=to turn]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus on,^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) mostly in the participle: a fragment of the ''Amphitruo'' has ''manufestum hunc obtortō collō teneō fūrem flāgitī'', “I hold this man by the twisted neck, caught in the act, a thief of outrage”.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In early and Classical Latin it is used above all in the phrases ''obtortō collō'' and ''obtortā gulā'', of someone seized by the throat, as with a noose, and dragged off to a magistrate or to prison.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Cicero has a man dragged off in this way to chains and darkness,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Seneca, in the ''Apocolocyntosis'', has Cyllenius drag Claudius to the underworld by the neck.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ More generally it means to turn something in a direction, as Accius and Statius use it of turning a ship's prow,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) or to twist something on itself: Virgil describes a flexible circlet of twisted gold worn on the chest round the neck,^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Petronius a lip twisted awry, and Apuleius doors wrenched from their hinges.^(OLD 2012) Jerome speaks of a twisted tongue in pronouncing Hebrew letters.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses ''obtortō collō'' of someone held or dragged by the neck.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of turning a ship's prow.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses ''obtortā gulā'' of a man dragged off to prison.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a circlet of twisted gold.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome speaks of a twisted tongue.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To seize or hold by the neck, as with a [[m|en|noose]]; to drag off by the throat (mostly ''obtortō collō'', ''obtortā gulā'').^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # To turn in a given direction.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To [[m|en|twist]] or bend on itself; to [[m|en|wrench]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[obtortiō]]

+ * [[obtortus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[attorqueō]]

+ * [[circumtorqueō]]

+ * [[contorqueō]]

+ * [[dētorqueō]]

+ * [[distorqueō]]

+ * [[extorqueō]]

+ * [[intorqueō]]

+ * [[pertorqueō]]

+ * [[praetorqueō]]

+ * [[retorqueō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}