offulcio

From ob- +‎ fulciō.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɔfˈfʊɫ.ki.oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ofˈful̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.o]

offulciō (present infinitive offulcīre, perfect active offulsī, supine offultum); fourth conjugation

1. (Apuleian) to block (a wound)
   • c. 125 CE – 180 CE, Apuleius, Metamorphoses 4.11:

     tunc nōs in ancipitī perīculō constitūtī vel opprimendī nostrī vel deserendī sociī remedium ē rē nātā validum eō volente comminīscimus. antesignānī nostrī partem, quā manus umerum subit, ictū per articulum medium temperātō prōrsus abscīdimus, atque ibi brachiō relictō, multis laciniis offultō vulnere nē stīllae sanguinis vestīgium prōderent, ceterum Lamachum raptim reportāmus.

     Now we found ourselves faced with two equally painful alternatives, to let ourselves be captured or to desert our comrade. On the spur of the moment we hit on a drastic solution: with one carefully directed blow we cut our leader’s arm right off at the elbow joint, and leaving the rest of it there we tied up the wound with a thick bandage so that there should be no trail of blood to show which way we went, and hurriedly made off with what remained of Lamachus.

   • c. 125 CE – 180 CE, Apuleius, Metamorphoses 1.13:

     nam etiam, nē quid dēmūtāret, crēdō, ā victimae religiōne, immissā dexterā per vulnus illud ad vīscera penitus cor miserī contubernālis meī Meroē bona scrūtāta prōtulit, cum ille impetū telī praesecātā gulā vōcem immō strīdorem incertum per vulnus effunderet et spīritum rebullīret. quod vulnus, quā maximē patēbat, spongiā offulciēns Panthia: heus tū, inquit spongia, cavē in marī nāta per fluvium trānseās. hīs ēditīs abeunt <et ūnā> remōtō grabattulō vāricus super faciem meam residentēs vēsīcam exonerant, quoad mē ūrīnae spurcissimae madōre perluerent.

     Next dear Meroe, wanting I suppose to keep as closely as possible to the sacrificial forms, plunged her hand into the wound right down to his entrails, rummaged about, and pulled out my poor friend’s heart. At this he let out through the wound in his throat, which the violent stroke of the sword had totally severed, an inarticulate whistling sound, and gave up the ghost. Then Panthia, blocking the gaping wound with her sponge, “Now, sponge,” she said, “you were born in the sea take care not to cross a river.” With these words they left, but first they pulled the bed off me and squatted down and emptied their bladders over my face, leaving me soaked in their filthy piss.

• offulcio in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• offulcio in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 2, Hahnsche Buchhandlung
• “offulcio”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press