decursus

Forms

dēcursus m (genitive dēcursūs); fourth declension^[1] Tacitus has a dative dēcursū.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēcurrō (“to run down”) + -tus.^[2][3][1] dēcurrō is a compound of currō “to run”, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *korse/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kr̥s-e/o- (“to run”).^[4] Isidore of Seville says it properly means the end of a course, of water or anything else.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation in the OLD is Lucretius', of the great downrush of water from high mountains.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a running down or descent: Petronius has toes bloodied in a steep descent, Livy a sudden swoop from the hills, and Cicero an outing into the country during which he practises his theses.^[2] Of things it is a downward fall, as Catullus' apple falling headlong, and a downward slope.^[2] Of water it is a downward flow, and a channel for it, as in Seneca.^[2][5] Pliny the Younger uses it of a landing place for ships.^[2] It is the running of a race and its finish, and figuratively the completed course of public offices in Cicero, and the flow of a verse in Quintilian.^[2] Livy uses it of a military exercise in which a sham fight almost became a deadly battle.^[2] Church Latin glosses it a stream, a watercourse, and the passing of time,^[6] and in Medieval Latin it is a watercourse.^[7]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of water rushing down.^[2][5][8]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a falling apple.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the course of public offices.^[2][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of an attack from the hills and of a sham fight.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A running down, descent; a swoop from higher ground; an outing.^[2][5][1]
2. A downward fall; a downward slope, declivity.^[2][5][1]
3. A downward flow of water; a channel, watercourse.^[2][6][7]
4. A landing place for ships.^[2]
5. The running of a race, course; its finish; the flow of a verse.^[2]
6. (military) A manoeuvre, exercise.^[2][1]

Related words

• dēcurrō
• dēcursiō

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 n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de