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corruo

Etymology and origin of the Latin word corruo

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
Livius Andronicus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₃rew-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin ruo
Latin corruo

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkɔr.ru.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkɔr.ru.o][1]

Forms

corruō (present infinitive corruere, perfect active corruī, supine corrutum); third conjugation[1] Also spelled conruō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + ruō (“to rush, fall”).[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨ruō⟩ “to rush” to Proto-Italic *rowe/o-, Proto-Indo-European *h₃rew-e/o- (“to run, hurry”), cognate with Ancient Greek ὀρούω (oroúō, “to rush”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Livius Andronicus, of falling down.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant to fall down, collapse, of people, animals and buildings, as in Cicero's aedēs corruērunt “the house fell in”; figuratively to be ruined, fail, come to grief, as in Cicero; in Seneca to rush together; and, less often, it was transitive.[2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to fall to the ground, sink down, be ruined.[6] French crouler and Italian crollare “to collapse” may go back to it.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a collapsing house and of ruin.[2][5][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of rushing together.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fall down, collapse.[2][3]
  2. (figurative) To be ruined, fail.[2]
  3. To rush together.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Corruo.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/corruo. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·