Etymologically
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assero

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈas.sɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈas.se.ro][1]

Forms

asserō (present infinitive asserere, perfect active asseruī, supine assertum); third conjugation[1] It is also spelled adserō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- (“to”) + serō (“to join, string together”).[2][1] De Vaan traces serō to Proto-Italic *sere/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ser-e/o- (“to thread, tie together”), comparing Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “to knit together”).[4] He also cites Oscan aserum (“to lay onto”), used with the word for “hand”, which matches the Latin legal phrase manum asserere.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Persa: “claim her from the pimp by laying your hand on her”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Its core is to join to oneself, and above all it is a legal term: manū asserere is to lay hands on a person and claim him, as free (in lībertātem, līberālī causā) or as a slave (in servitūtem).[3][2][1] Plautus has both, and Livy tells of a man who claimed a girl as his slave.[2] From freeing by claim it came to mean simply to set free, as when Ovid says he has freed himself and fled his chains.[2] It also means to claim for oneself or attribute to someone, as in Ovid's “do not claim my praises”, to defend or protect, as in Velleius, and in Martial to assert or maintain.[2] Church Latin glosses it to assert, remark, claim.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of claiming a girl by laying hands on her.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of claiming a girl as a slave.[2][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of setting oneself free and of claiming praise.[2][6]
  • c. 1600 – English assert is formed from its past participle.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. manum asserere, to lay hands on.[2]
  2. (law) To claim a person as free or as a slave by laying hands on him.[2][3][1]
  3. To set free, liberate.[2][1]
  4. To claim for oneself, arrogate; to attribute to someone.[2][5][1]
  5. To defend, protect, preserve.[2][1]
  6. To assert, allege, maintain.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • assertiō
  • assertor
  • assertorius
  • assertum
  • assertus

Usage notes

A rare separate verb asserō, assēvī, assitum, “to plant near”, is made from serō “to sow”; it is found in Cato and Varro, of vines planted beside other plants, and not in Cicero.[2][3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com