Etymologically
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conterreo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔnˈtɛr.re.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [konˈtɛr.re.o][1]

Forms

conterreō (present infinitive conterrēre, perfect active conterruī, supine conterritum); second conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + terreō (“to frighten”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces terreō to Proto-Italic *tros-eje- (“to scare”) and Proto-Indo-European *tros-eie- (“to make scared”), following the Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, and compares Umbrian tursitu (“to scare”), Sanskrit त्रसन्ति (trásanti, “they tremble”) and Ancient Greek τρέω (tréō, “to tremble, flee”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Cicero and Lucretius, who has the hearts of the crowd struck with fear.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to fill with terror or frighten thoroughly: Cicero writes of a commander who terrified, subdued and tamed the other nations.[3] It can also mean to suppress by frightening, as when Cicero imagines a man silencing his own talkativeness with a mere look.[2] Lewis & Short find it rare before the Augustan period and especially frequent in Livy.[5]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a frightened crowd.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of nations terrified and of silenced talk.[2][3][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it often.[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fill with terror, frighten thoroughly, terrify.[2][5][1]
  2. To suppress by frightening.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de