Etymology
ob- (“towards”) + ferō (“bear, carry”)
Verb
offerō (present infinitive offerre, perfect active obtulī, supine oblātum); third conjugation, irregular
- to bring before or bring to, present, offer, bestow, show, place before, exhibit, expose
- Synonyms: prōferō, sufferō, prōpōnō, afferō, porrigō, polliceor, obiciō, praebeō, expōnō, summittō, dōnō, condōnō, largior, moveō
29 BCE – 19 BCE,
Virgil,
Aeneid 2.589–592:
- “Cum mihi sē nōn ante oculīs tam clāra videndam
obtulit et pūrā per noctem in lūce refulsit:
alma parēns, cōnfessa deam, quālīsque vidērī
caelicolīs et quanta solet [...].”- “When [suddenly] she presented herself to me – far brighter than [I had] ever seen [her] before – worthy to be viewed, and with clarity, shining through the darkness in [all her] splendor: [my] gracious mother, revealed [as a] goddess, both in form and stature as she was wont to appear to the heaven-dwelling gods.”
(Venus reveals her divine appearance to Aeneas.)
- to cause, occasion, inflict
- Synonyms: indō, pariō, ēdō, importō, addūcō, īnferō, afferō, efficiō, iniciō
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) to offer to God, consecrate, dedicate
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) to offer up, sacrifice
Conjugation
More information indicative, singular ...
Close
Descendants
- Sardinian: oferrere, oferri, oferriri
- → Proto-West Germanic: *offrōn (see there for further descendants)
References
- “offero”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “offero”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- offero in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to sacrifice oneself for one's country: se morti offerre pro salute patriae
- a favourable[1] opportunity presents itself: occasio datur, offertur
- to expose oneself to peril: periculis se offerre
- to risk one's life: salutem, vitam suam in discrimen offerre (not exponere)