accredo

Forms

accrēdō (present infinitive accrēdere, perfect active accrēdidī, supine accrēditum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled adcrēdō.^[2] Plautus has the archaic present subjunctive accreduas.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ad- + crēdō (“to believe”).^[2][4][1] De Vaan traces crēdō to Proto-Indo-European *ḱred-dʰeh₁- (“to place (in?) the heart”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in Plautus' Asinaria (c. 250–184 BC),^[2][6][7] meaning to give credence to someone: “who would believe you that?”^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it means to believe, with a dative of the person and an accusative of the thing, and is rare:^[2][8] Lucretius, Horace, Cicero (without an object), Nepos and Columella use it.^[2][9] Fronto has it in the sense of putting trust in someone.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it took on financial senses: to lend, to borrow, and a loan, as in a charter of 1165 recording a loan of 200 marks.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it, once with the old subjunctive accreduas.^[2][6][7]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.^[2][7]
• 100–170 AD – Fronto uses it of putting trust in counsel.^[2][7]
• 1165 – A Halberstadt charter uses it for lending money.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give credence to, believe.^[2][8]
2. To put faith in, trust.^[2][11]
3. (Medieval Latin) To hold as true.^[10]
4. (Medieval Latin) To lend; to borrow.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier