addisco

Forms

addiscō (present infinitive addiscere, perfect active addidicī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + discō (“to learn”).^[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs the present of discō as Proto-Italic *dikske/o- from Proto-Indo-European *di-dḱ-sḱ-e/o-, a reduplicated form with an iterative suffix from a root meaning “to take, accept”, so that the verb first meant “to take in repeatedly”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Cicero,^[2][4] who in the De oratore wants to hear something from a speaker ut aliquid addiscerem, “so that I might learn something more”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to learn in addition or further: Cicero quotes Solon, who boasted that he grew old cotidie aliquid addiscentem, “learning something more every day”, and Suetonius tells of leading men forced to learn German.^[6][2] With little or no sense of addition it simply means to learn, as in the younger Seneca and Columella, and Ovid uses it with an infinitive: addidici regimen dextra moderante carinae flectere, “I learnt to steer the ship's helm with my right hand”.^[2][5] In later writers it means to acquire by learning.^[7] Lewis and Short give a sense to be informed, hear, from Justin, where Georges reports that editions now read the simple verb.^[6][7] In Ecclesiastical Latin it keeps the senses learn in addition, be informed, hear.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of learning something more.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it with an infinitive.^[2][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius has leading men made to learn German.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To learn in addition, learn further.^[2][6]
2. To learn, with little or no idea of addition; with an infinitive, to learn how to do something.^[2][5]
3. To be informed, hear.^[6][8]

Related words

• condiscō
• dēdiscō
• discō
• ēdiscō
• indiscō
• perdiscō
• praediscō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson