torpedo Latin · revision 4627

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Cato|origins=la torpeō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [tɔrˈpeː.doː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [torˈpɛː.do]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''torpēdō''' ''f'' (genitive torpēdinis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|torpeō|-ēdō|t1=to be numb]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Etymonline traces ''torpeō'' to [[ine-pro|*ster-|t=stiff]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cato, quoted by Gellius, says that sluggishness does more harm than exercise.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense was sluggishness, lethargy, numbness, rare and not in Cicero or Caesar: Sallust and Tacitus use it of inertia that seized the mind.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) It was also the electric ray, a fish whose touch numbs, in Varro, Cicero and Pliny the Elder.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Isidore says it is named because it makes the body numb if anyone touches it alive.^(Isidore)

+

+ Medieval writers kept both senses, sloth and the fish.^(DMLBS) [[en|torpedo]] is recorded in the 1520s for the electric ray.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of sluggishness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the electric ray.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of lethargy.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1520s – English ''torpedo'' is recorded for the fish.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Sluggishness, [[m|en|lethargy]], numbness.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The electric ray, a [[m|en|torpedo]] fish.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[torpeo|alt=torpeō]]

+ * [[torpor]]

+ * [[en|torpedo]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}