terp-
“to satisfy, to enjoy”satisfy, enjoy, delight
Root for satisfaction, yielding Greek terpein (to delight), Sanskrit trpyati (to be satisfied).
Discussion
The Proto-Indo-European root *terp- conveyed the sense of satisfying or enjoying, with particular reference to the fulfillment of physical appetite. The extended form *terp-eyo- is treated separately with the full Greek development. The present entry records the base root and its most surprising Latin reflex: torpēre (to be numb, to be sluggish), which gave English torpedo, torpid, and torpor. The semantic connection between satisfaction and numbness is natural: torpor represents the state that follows complete satiation, the heavy drowsiness that overcomes one who has eaten or drunk to excess. Latin torpēdō originally named the electric ray, a fish whose numbing sting was likened to the paralysis of satiation; the word was later applied to the naval weapon. Watkins notes the instructive parallel with other roots whose meanings span active and resultative states: just as *sed- can mean both the act of sitting and the state of being seated, *terp- encompasses both the process of satisfying and the condition of being sated to the point of immobility. This root preserves a characteristically Indo-European observation about pleasure: satisfaction carried to its endpoint becomes its own negation, delight collapsing into insensibility.
Notes
Pokorny 1077. Primarily Indo-Iranian and Greek attestation.