converro

Forms

converrō (present infinitive converrere, perfect active converrī, supine conversum); third conjugation^[1] Plautus writes the older convorrō, with the perfect convorrī.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + verrō (“to sweep”).^[2][4][3] De Vaan traces verrō to Proto-Italic *wors-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *urs-e/o- (“to wipe”), comparing Hittite warš-i (“to reap, harvest, wipe”).^[3] The spelling ⟨convorr-⟩ in Plautus is the older one: according to de Vaan, /wo-/ became /we-/ before /s/, /t/ and /r/ plus a consonant around 200 BC.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.^[3][4] In the Stichus the line capiam scopas atque hoc convorram lubens (“I'll take the brooms and gladly sweep this up”) has it in the sense “sweep together”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Cato uses it of sweeping clean: the farmhouse is to be kept swept and tidy.^[2][4] Columella has it of the herdsman who sweeps out the stable every day,^[4][6] and Curtius of winds that sweep up whatever sand lies on the plains.^[4][7] Plautus already uses it as a joke for a thrashing, in the Rudens: convorret iam hic me totum cum pulvisculo (“he'll sweep me out, dust and all”).^[5][6][7]

Figuratively it meant to scrape together: Cicero, in the De officiis, imagines a man who could sweep up everyone's inheritances with a snap of his fingers.^[4][6][7] Later writers used it more freely: Arnobius of worshippers who sweep the very thresholds of the temples with their kisses,^[4][5] and Ammianus Marcellinus of storms that swept through Thrace.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of sweeping up, and jokingly of a beating.^[4][5][8]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of sweeping the farmhouse clean.^[2][4][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of scraping together inheritances.^[4][6][8]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of sweeping out the stable.^[4][6][8]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of sweeping temple thresholds with kisses.^[4][5][8]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of storms sweeping through Thrace.^[4][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sweep together, sweep up.^[2][5]
2. To sweep clean.^[2][4]
3. (figurative) To scrape together, amass.^[5][6]
4. (humorous) To give a thorough thrashing to.^[5][6][1]

Related words

• scōpa

Usage notes

Conte warns against confusing its forms with those of convertō “turn round”,^[7] and the manuscripts do confuse them: at Cicero, De officiis 3.78, some read convertere,^[5] and in Gellius the transmitted text has convertebant.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de