Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Latin word contrudo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Latin (trūdō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin trudo
Latin detrudo
Latin extrudo
Latin abstrudo
Latin contrudo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔnˈtruː.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [konˈtruː.do][1]

Forms

contrūdō (present infinitive contrūdere, perfect active contrūsī, supine contrūsum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + trūdō (“to push, thrust”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces the simple verb to Proto-Italic *treude/o- and Proto-Indo-European *treud- (“to push, thrust”), and compares Welsh cythrudd (“to vex”), Lithuanian triū̃sas (“work, effort, pains”) and Old Norse þrjóta (“to lack”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest examples in Lewis and Short and the TLL are in Lucretius,[5][3][6] who uses it of the force of the wind driving clouds together and of the current that seems to thrust a horse's body upstream.[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short describe it as mostly pre-classical.[5] Lucretius also uses it of bodies lying heaped together deep in the huts, penitusque casa contrusa iacebant corpora.[5][7] It is used of cramming or stowing things away: Varro of pressing grapes into jars,[5][8] Cicero of people crowded into the baths.[5][8] Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of a person thrust off to an island.[8][5]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of clouds and bodies crowded together.[5][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of pressing grapes into jars.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of crowding people into the baths.[5][6]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of thrusting someone away to an island.[8][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To thrust or drive in a given direction; to crowd together.[2][5]
  2. To thrust away into a container or place, cram, stow.[2][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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 f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
Cite this entry

“Contrudo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/contrudo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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