Re: "To slurp" in latin, is there such a thing?

On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 6:39 PM, R A Brown <ray@...> wrote:
> Andreas Johansson wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 4:02 PM, taliesin the storyteller
>> <taliesin-conlang@...> wrote:
>>>
>>> * Andreas Johansson said on 2009-01-28 14:39:28 +0100
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 2:20 PM, taliesin the storyteller
>>>> <taliesin-conlang@...> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> /../ "slurpo ergo sum", /../
>>>>
>>>> My dictionary suggests _sorbeo_ or _sorpillo_.
>>>
>>> Which dictionary? Lewis & Short or some other?
>>
>> Nordstedts svensk-latinska ordbok. The companion Latin-Swedish
>> dictionary gives "slurp, drink greedily" as the primary sense of
>> _sorbeo_, with secondary meanings like "suck in" and "consume", but
>> doesn't list _sorpillo_.
>>
>> Lewis and Short doesn't know _sorpillo_ either, and for _sorbeo_ gives
>> "to sup up, suck in, drink down, swallow".
>
> Yep - L & S also adds that it's frequent and classical. It's also often used
> with metaphorical meanings of "to suck in" and "to swallow".
>
> It does, however, give _sorbillo_ (sorbillare) as ante- and post-classical
> with the meaning "to sip".
Which means, I suppose, that _sorpillo_ is a typo. One might suspect
the subconscious influence of Sw. _sörpla_

> When words are both ante- and post-classical it's
> a fairly certain sign that they were part of the colloquial language, but
> were thought too 'plebeian' to be used by authors of the high classical
> period. The verb is clearly a diminutive - and the popular language seems to
> have been fond of diminutives.
>
> However, 'sipping' and 'slurping' are not the same; the latter is more
> annoying and those annoyed by it are not likely to use a diminutive when
> complaining!
>
> 'to drink greedily' is not the same as slurping. Surely the important thing
> about slurping is that it's *noisy* - indeed, I've known many slurpers who
> don't drink greedily. If only they would, then the noise would be over
> sooner!
>
> I find no evidence that _sorbeo_ implied being noisy as one imbibed. At the
> moment I can't find a Latin verb that has the same implication as the
> English. But as Taliesin observed, there must surely have been some Romans
> with this annoying habit - I'll keep looking    :)
According to Nordstedts, the word is onomatopoetic, and _sorbeo_
surely *sounds* rather like slurping, but L & S lists cognates that
sound rather less so.

--
Andreas Johansson

Why can't you be a non-conformist just like everybody else?