LOGOI

The corpus record — Latin

doceo

doceo

to tell, inform; teach

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 292 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. doceo — de Vaan

doceo 'to tell, inform; teach' [v. II; docui, doctum] (Andr.+) Derivatives: docilis 'ready to learn5 (Cic.+), doctor, -oris 'teacher' (Lucr.+), — [de Vaan, s.v. doceo, p. 190]

2. dŏcĕo — Lewis & Short

dŏcĕo, cŭi, ctum, 2, v. a.root da; Zend. dā, to know; strengthened, dak-; Gr. dida/skw; Lat. disco,

I to teach, instruct, inform, show, tell, etc. (for syn. cf.: edoceo, perdoceo, erudio, praecipio, instituo).
I In gen., with double acc. of person and thing: pejor magister te istaec docuit ... illa, quae te docui, Plaut. Bacch. 1, 2, 55: hunc hominem cursuram, id. Trin. 4, 3, 9: aliquem artem, Cic. de Or. 2, 54: aliquem litteras, id. Pis. 30: aliquem ejusmodi rem, id. Quint. 25, 79: pueros elementa, Hor. Ep. 1, 20, 17 et saep.—Pass., with acc. rei: is reliqua frustra docetur, Quint. 4, 2, 90; 1, 5, 11; 3, 8, 70; 6, 2, 3; Hor. C. 3, 6, 21; id. S. 1, 6, 76 et saep.; cf.: doctus dogmam, Laber. ap. Prisc. p. 679 fin. P.; and: doctus militiam, Sall. H. Fragm. 1, 40, p. 224 ed. Gerl.—With inf.: docemur auctoritate domitas habere libidines, Cic. de Or. 1, 43, 194; 1, 57, 244; id. Fin. 2, 5, 15: docemur disputare, non vivere (= discimus), Sen. Ep. 95, 13: equi variare gyros docentur, Tac. G. 6; Sall. J. 85, 33; Nep. Epam. 2, 1; Liv. 21, 3, 6.—With acc. pers. and inf.: ut doceam Rullum posthac in iis saltem tacere rebus, in quibus, etc., Cic. Agr. 3, 2; so id. Phil. 2, 4, 8; Hor. S. 1, 1, 91; id. Ep. 1, 14, 30 al.; cf. ellipt. with abl. of instrument: Socratem fidibus (sc. canere), Cic. Fam. 9, 22, 3: aliquem docendum curare equo, armisque, Liv. 29, 1, 8; Zumpt, § 391 fin.—With acc. pers. and de, to instruct or inform one of: de ejus injuriis judices docere, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 51: aliquem de aliqua re, id. Rosc. Am. 9, 26; 44, 127; id. de Or. 2, 24, 102; Sall. J. 13, 3 al. —With acc. pers. and rel. clause: doceant eum, qui vir Sex. Roscius fuerit, Cic. Rosc. Am. 9, 25; id. Att. 8, 2, 2; id. Fam. 3, 6, 5; 5, 3; Quint. 6, 1, 20 al.—With acc. pers.: studiosos discendi erudiunt atque docent, Cic. Off. 1, 44, 156; id. Div. 2, 2; id. de Sen. 9, 29; Quint. 2, 5, 13; Hor. S. 2, 2, 50; id. Ep. 1, 13, 1 et saep.—With acc. rei: coepit studiose omnia Docere, educare, ita uti si esset filia, Ter. Eun. 1, 2, 37; so, aliquid, Caes. B. G. 5, 42 fin.; Quint. 7, 10, 10; 9, 4, 137; Hor. A. P. 306 et saep.; cf. also: quod de lacu Albano docuisset, Liv. 5, 15; so with two acc., Caes. B. G. 7, 10, 3; Cic. Clu. 70, 198.—With acc. and inf.: docui per litteras, id nec opus esse nec fieri posse, Cic. Att. 16, 8; Caes. B. G. 5, 1, 7; 5, 28, 4; Quint. 1, 5, 43; Hor. S. 2, 3, 63 et saep.—Absol.: cum doceo et explano, Cic. de Or. 2, 19, 82; id. Or. 42, 143; Quint. 3, 4, 15; 3, 5, 2 et saep.; cf. also: Tyrannio docet apud me, Cic. Q. Fr. 2, 4 fin.
II In partic.: fabulam, like the Gr. dida/skein, qs. to teach a play to the actors, to rehearse; hence, to produce, exhibit on the stage: minor fuit aliquanto is, qui primus fabulam dedit, quam ii, qui multas docuerant (Plautus et Naevius), Cic. Brut. 18, 73; id. Tusc. 4, 29, 63; Hor. A. P. 288; Gell. 17, 21, 42.—Hence, doctus, a, um, P. a., learned, skilled, versed, experienced in any thing (cf.: litteratus, eruditus, peritus, gnarus, scitus).—Absol.: doctus vir et Graecis litteris eruditus, Cic. Brut. 30, 114; cf. id. de Or. 1, 22, 102; 2, 74, 299: adolescentes humanissimi et doctissimi, id. Cael. 10, 24.—With ex: fuit enim doctus ex disciplina Stoicorum, Cic. Brut. 25.—With abl.: docti et Graecis litteris et Latinis, Cic. Brut. 46; 45 fin.; Sall. C. 25, 2; Mart. 10, 76. —With adv.: nec minus Graece quam Latine doctus, Suet. Gram. 7.—With gen.: fandi doctissima Cymodocea, Verg. A. 10, 225: legum atque morum populi Romani jurisque civilis, Gell. 13, 12, 1: sagittarum, Aur. Vict. Epit. 11: artis lanificae, Claud. in Eutr. 2, 381.—With acc.: (Maecenas) docte sermones utriusque linguae, Hor. C. 3, 8, 5: dulces modos (with citharae sciens), id. ib. 3, 9, 10: omnia, Stat. Th. 2, 692: litteras, Gell. 19, 9, 7.—With inf.: doctus sagittas tendere Sericas, Hor. C. 1, 29, 9; 3, 6, 38; 4, 13, 7; id. Carm. Sec. 75 et saep.—With ad or in: ad delinquendum doctior, Ov. Tr. 2, 256: in parum fausto carmine docta fui, id. H. 21, 182: Sapphica puella Musa doctior, more skilled in song, Cat. 35, 17: docta puella, Prop. 1, 7, 11; 2, 11, 6 (3, 2, 6 M.); 2, 13, 11 (3, 4, 11 M.).—Esp. as epithet of Catullus by other poets, Tib. 3, 6, 41; Ov. Am. 3, 9, 62: Verona docti syllabas amat vatis, Mart. 1, 61, 1; Ov. A. A. 2, 181.—As subst.: doctus, the man of skill.—Prov.: doctus in se semper divitias habet, Phaedr. 4, 21, 1; but class. only in plur.: doctī, ōrum, m., the learned: doctorum est ista consuetudo, Cic. Lael. 5, 17 et saep.—
2 Of things as subjects: frontes, Hor. C. 1, 1, 29: tibia, Prop. 2, 30, 16 (3, 28, 16 M.): carmina, Tib. 2, 3, 20; cf. vox, Ov. P. 2, 5, 52: voces Pythagoreorum, Cic. Tusc. 4, 1, 2: sermo, Plin. Ep. 7, 25, 3: prece, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 135: manus artificis, Tib. 1, 8, 12; cf. id. 2, 1, 70; Ov. F. 3, 832; 6, 792: falx, Prop. 2, 19, 12 (3, 12, 12 M.) et saep.—
B In Plaut. and Ter., knowing, cunning, shrewd, subtle: malum, callidum, doctum, Plaut. Ps. 2, 4, 35; id. Bacch. 4, 4, 43; id. Most. 1, 3, 122; 5, 1, 24 et saep.; Ter. Hec. 2, 1, 6; id. Eun. 4, 7, 21; cf. also, dolus, Plaut. Mil. 2, 1, 69; id. Ps. 1, 5, 70 al.docte, adv.
1 Learnedly, skilfully (very rare; not in Cic.).— Comp., Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 33; Mart. 7, 46.—Sup., Sall. J. 95, 3.—
2 Cunningly, shrewdly, cleverly: docte et sapienter dicis, Plaut. Ep. 3, 3, 23: docte tibi illam perdoctam dabo, id. Mil. 2, 2, 103; id. Bacch. 4, 4, 43: docte sapere, id. Mil. 3, 1, 162; id. Most. 5, 1, 21 et saep.—Comp., Plaut. Mil. 4, 2, 99.

In the wild

6 of 3,041 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. doceo (scan p. 190; entry #443).

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.