Etymologically
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attero

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈat.tɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈat.te.ro][1]

Forms

atterō (present infinitive atterere, perfect active attrīvī, supine attrītum); third conjugation[1] The spelling adterō is also found.[2][3] Tibullus has the perfect infinitive atteruisse for attrīvisse.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + terō (“to rub”).[2][1][4] De Vaan traces terō to Proto-Italic *tera- and Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub”); the Latin present is isolated among the other Indo-European languages and may continue an old root aorist.[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek τείρω (teírō, “to distress, weaken”), τρίβω (tríbō, “to rub, wear out”), Lithuanian tìrti (“to investigate”) and Old High German drāen (“to turn”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] who uses it in the Persa for rubbing or grinding against something.[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is to rub or grind, and so to chafe or wear with use, as Catullus' pillow is worn on both sides.[2] From this it means to wear away or down, as Virgil's bees wear their wings on hard rocks, and to reduce in size.[2] Lewis & Short note that the literal sense is most frequent after the Augustan period.[3]

Figuratively it means to use up property or resources, as in Seneca the Elder's “it is hard to gather wealth that has been worn away”, to grind down people or places by exactions (Tacitus says no tax collector grinds the Germans), and to waste time.[2] It also means to weaken a person or a body of troops: Sallust says much of an army had been worn down by the greed or rashness of its commanders, and of Catiline that he wore away his followers' reputation and sense of shame.[2] In Church Latin it is glossed to bruise, destroy, ruin.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for rubbing or grinding.[2][5][7]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a pillow worn with use.[2][7]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of armies worn down and of reputation impaired.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of bees wearing their wings on rocks.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of tax collectors grinding a people.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To rub against, rub, grind; to chafe, wear with use.[2][3]
  2. To wear away, wear down; to reduce in size.[2][3]
  3. To use up or waste property or resources; to grind down, impoverish people or places; to waste time.[2]
  4. To weaken, enervate; to wear down troops or a power; to impair qualities or reputation.[2][3]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To bruise, destroy, ruin.[6]

Word family

  • attrītiō
  • attrītus
  • inattritus

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 n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de