occo Latin · revision 36913

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *h₂oḱ-et-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɔk.koː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔk.ko]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''occō''' (present infinitive occāre, perfect active occāvī, supine occātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|occa|t=harrow]],^(Wiktionary) although the verb is recorded long before the noun, which appears only in Late Latin texts and glosses.^(de Vaan 2008) The TLL therefore hesitates to derive it from that noun and assumes a lost noun related to the words for “harrow” in other languages;^(TLL) de Vaan answers that a first-conjugation verb still implies a noun as its base.^(de Vaan 2008) He traces the noun to [[ine-pro|*h₂oḱ-et-|t=harrow]], perhaps through [[itc-pro|*oketā-]]; the ⟨cc⟩ is unexplained, since Hirt's metathesis has no parallel, and the word may come from an Italic dialect in which /kt/ became /kk/.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[cy|oged|t=harrow]], [[grc|ὀξίνα|tr=oxína|t=a toothed farm implement]], [[lt|akė́čios|t=harrow]], [[goh|egida]] and [[ang|egeðe]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first author is Plautus,^(TLL) who puns on it in the ''Captivi'': ''nam semper occant prius quam sariunt rūsticī'', “for country people always harrow before they hoe”.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a farming word, used in verse only by Plautus, Horace and Persius and otherwise by writers on agriculture from Cato on.^(TLL) It meant to harrow ground and to break up the clods round or over plants and seeds: Varro advises digging or ploughing young vineyards and then harrowing them so that no clod is left, and Pliny the Elder says that fenugreek and kidney beans are only harrowed in.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace uses it of harrowing cornfields.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Palladius and Isidore of Seville use it of covering seeds, trees or vines with earth.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus puns on it in the ''Captivi''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in his work on agriculture.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of harrowing young vineyards.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of cornfields.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of harrowing in seeds.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains it as covering seeds with earth.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|harrow]] (ground).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To break up the [[m|en|clod|alt=clods]] round or over plants or seeds; to cover seeds with earth.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[deoccō]]

+ * [[inoccō]]

+ * [[occātiō]]

+ * [[occātor]]

+ * [[occillō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Ancient grammarians explained the word in different ways.^(TLL) Varro derived it from ''occīdere'', because the clods are broken up;^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Festus reports that Verrius Flaccus derived it from ''occaedere'', because it cuts the big clods of earth, and that Cicero derived it more elegantly from ''occaecāre'', because it covers the sown seed.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}