curso
Pronunciation
Forms
cursō (present infinitive cursāre, perfect active cursāvī, supine cursātum); first conjugation, impersonal in the passive[1] Some manuscripts have corsat.[2]
Etymology
It is from Latin currō (“to run”) + -tō.[3][2] Priscian notes that such frequentatives are mostly formed from the supine, ⟨cursum⟩ giving ⟨cursō⟩.[2] De Vaan traces currō to Proto-Italic *korse/o- (“to run”) and Proto-Indo-European *krs-e/o- (“to run”), and notes that the compounds in ⟨-cursō⟩ keep the literal sense more than those in ⟨-currō⟩.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Cicero uses it of running to and fro, ultro et citro;[5] Bentley restored it by conjecture in a line of Terence.[5]
Semantic evolution
It means to run, hurry or rush constantly about, to and fro;[3] Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.[5] Cicero has running hither and thither, huc illuc, and men who run about the gangways of a ship.[5] Tacitus uses it of rushing about the city,[5] and Valerius Flaccus of running into all the streets.[5] Wiktionary notes that it is impersonal in the passive.[1]
Timeline
- 81–43 BC – Cicero, of running to and fro.[5][6]
- 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of rushing about the city.[5][6]
Meanings
Verb
Word family
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de