What happens with eō, īre is a good example of how to ‘get round’ what seems to be a lot to learn. This post, and the next one, put it all together.
eō, īre is important because of the
addition of prefixes:
eō, īre: go > ab¦eō, ab¦īre:
go away
A prefix, a small group of letters added to the beginning of
a word e.g. happy > unhappy
In Latin, all the prefixes below, apart from re-, also work
separately as prepositions:
ad: to(wards) e.g. Ad īnsulam nāvigant. │
They’re sailing towards the island.
When they are added to verbs, they
will most often have the same meaning.
ad¦eō, ad¦īre: approach i.e. go to(wards)
By adding these prefixes to eō, īre the
verb has multiple meanings.
Below are some examples; some of these verbs can have more
than one meaning but these are the key ones that show the connection to the
prefix:
- abeō, abīre: depart; go away
- adeō, adīre: approach; go to
- exeō, exīre: exit; go out
- ineō, inīre: go in
- pereō, perīre: perish; die
- praetereō, praeterīre: go by
- prōdeō: go forth
- redeō, redīre: go back; return
- subeō, subīre: go under
- trānseō, trānsīre: cross; go across
Here are some examples, starting with the basic verb and
then adding prefixes to it to change its meaning.
eō, īre: go
[1] Duae parvae puellae ad magistram eunt et
fābulam nārrant. │ The two small girls go to the teacher and
tell the story.
> ex¦eō, ex¦īre: go out
Māter et medicus ex¦eunt. │The mother and the
doctor go out.
Māter ex¦īre incipit. │ The mother starts to go out
Sportulam accipit, et per vestibulum ex¦it. │ He
receives the basket and goes out through the entrance.
[2] abeō, ab¦īre: go away
Ecce, in mēnsā sunt sportulae. Accipite atque ab¦īte.
│ Look! The baskets are on the table. Take (them) and go away.
Clientēs sportulās capiunt et ab¦eunt. │ The
customers take the baskets and (they) go away.
[3] re+eō > red¦eō, red¦īre:
go / come back
Ō māter, red¦ī, mea māter! │ Oh, mother,
return, my mother!
Red¦īte, servī, domum! │ Go back home,
slaves!
[4] A good example from the Vulgate where you can see that
these prefixes aren’t only added to eō, īre:
Generātiō praeter¦it, et generātiō ad¦venit; terra autem in aeternum stat. │ A generation goes past and a generation arrives (i.e. comes towards), but the earth remains forever.
[5]
Tōtus, tōtus amor est quō per¦eō! (Mediaeval) │ It is a new, new love from which I’m dying / perishing.
[6]
Trāns¦eunt Rhēnum nāvibus ratibusque (Caesar) │ They cross the Rhine in ships and rafts
And from the same section of Caesar’s work:
Prīmōs Eburōnum fīnēs ad¦eunt │ They arrive at the frontiers of the Eburones
[7] I’m adding this one just to show that the action may not
always be physical:
Quam multa molesta et difficilia quae sub¦īmus! (Cicero) │ How many troubles and annoyances are there which we undergo!
And why I mention that this post is connected to
the next one is because, when faced with what seems to be a long list of small
words, you can approach that list from another angle.
Image #1: examples of eō with its prefixes
Image #2: sentences from the post
Image #3: Back in the days when nobody argued about
spelling, here is the famous stage direction from Shakespeare’s The
Winter’s Tale:
Exit, pursued by a bear.
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