averrunco

Forms

āverruncō (present infinitive āverruncāre, perfect active āverruncāvī, supine āverruncātum); first conjugation^[1] Old forms are the perfect subjunctive āverruncāssint in Pacuvius and the infinitive āverruncāssere, from an old future in -āssō.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ab- + verruncō (“to turn out”).^[3][1] De Vaan lists it, from Cato on, under verrō (“to sweep”);^[4] he thinks the simple verb is probably made from a lost noun, possibly preserved in the god Averruncus named by Varro, which presupposes a stem meaning “one who sweeps, one who wards off”.^[4] The sweeping verb goes back to Proto-Italic *wors-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *urs-e/o- (“to wipe”).^[4] The OLD compares āverrō (“to sweep away”).^[2] Varro, like the ancient grammarians after him, explained it from āvertō (“to turn away”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato (234–149 BC)^[5] uses it in a prayer in his treatise on farming, asking that calamities and bad weather be kept off: uti calamitates intemperiasque prohibessis, defendas averruncesque.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it a very ancient word, peculiar to the language of religion.^[6] It is used of warding off evils and prodigies: a line of Accius quoted by Cicero has di averruncent, “may the gods avert it”, and Livy speaks of rites performed to avert prodigies.^[6] The word stayed rare; later writers who use it include Arnobius and Fulgentius.^[3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in a prayer to keep calamities away.^[6][5]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses the old form āverruncāssint.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of averting prodigies.^[6][5]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (religion) To ward off, avert (calamities, prodigies).^[2][6]
2. di averruncent: “may the gods avert it!”^[6]

Related words

• verrō
• āverrō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press