Etymologically
Log in

debello

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word debello

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin (bellum)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin bello
Latin debello
Latin rebello
Latin bellator

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈbɛl.loː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈbɛl.lo][1]

Forms

dēbellō (present infinitive dēbellāre, perfect active dēbellāvī, supine dēbellātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + bellō (“to wage war”).[2][3][1] bellum (“war”) had the older form ⟨duellum⟩, found in Plautus.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short find it no earlier than the Augustan age.[5] Virgil has the line parcere subiectīs et dēbellāre superbōs, "to spare the conquered and subdue the proud".[5]

Semantic evolution

It is especially frequent in Livy, meaning to fight a war to its end:[5] Livy writes that Aulius finished the war with the Ferentani in one successful battle, and often has the impersonal dēbellātum est, "the war was over", and the ablative dēbellātō, "once the war was ended".[2][5] Horace uses it of a brawl of Centaurs and Lapiths fought out over wine.[2][5] As a transitive verb, in poetry and post-Augustan prose, it means to subdue completely: Virgil has a hard people to be subdued in Latium, Ovid India, and Suetonius the provinces of Gaul and Illyricum.[2][5] Pliny the Elder uses it of a law that locusts be fought three times a year.[2] Stelten glosses it "wage war".[6]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of subduing the proud.[5][2]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a brawl fought out.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of ending wars.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of fighting locusts.[2]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of subduing Gaul.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To fight a war to its end, finish a war;[2][5] dēbellātum est, the war is over.[2][5]
  2. (transitive) To fight (a battle) out.[2][5]
  3. (transitive) To subdue, vanquish, conquer completely.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • dēbellātiō
  • dēbellātor
  • debellatrix

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 j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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 l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Debello.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/debello. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·