Etymologically
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crebresco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kreːˈbreːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kreˈbrɛs.ko][1]

Forms

crēbrēscō (present infinitive crēbrēscere, perfect active crēbruī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1] Manuscripts and editions sometimes have crēbēscō, perfect crēbuī.[2][3] The perfect is rare;[2] Apuleius and Augustine have it.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin crēber (“frequent, numerous”) + -ēscō.[4][1][3] De Vaan derives crēber from the stem of crēscō (“to grow”), as Proto-Italic *krē-þro- (“growing, in large numbers”), and traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *k(w)reh₁- (“to become bigger, stronger”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short think it perhaps not earlier than the Augustan age;[2] Virgil has the longed-for breezes freshening, crebrescunt optatae aurae.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to become frequent or widespread, to increase or grow strong:[4][2] Virgil also has a shudder spreading, Quintilian gestures quickening with the speed of speech, and Pliny the Younger a crash growing louder.[2] Of a rumour or report it is to spread abroad, as of talk in Virgil;[2] Lewis & Short note that it is most frequent in Tacitus, who has war, sedition, licence and resentment growing, the report of a German disaster spreading, and the rumour going round that Agrippa was alive.[2] In Church Latin it is to become frequent, grow strong, increase or spread.[6]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of freshening breezes and spreading talk.[2][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of quickening gestures.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of spreading rumours and growing sedition.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To become frequent or widespread, to increase, grow strong.[4][2][1][6]
  2. Of a rumour or report: to spread abroad, be generally reported.[2][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de