defraudo
Pronunciation
Forms
dēfraudō (present infinitive dēfraudāre, perfect active dēfraudāvī, supine dēfraudātum); first conjugation[1] Also written dēfrūdō.[2][3][4] The manuscripts have ⟨-au-⟩ and ⟨-u-⟩ without distinction, and editors prefer ⟨-u-⟩.[4][2] An inscription has defrudavi, a form Priscian also gives.[4] Plautus has the old future perfect dēfraudāssis.[3]
Etymology
It is from Latin dē- (“thoroughly”) + fraudō (“to cheat”),[2][4][5] and that verb is made from fraus (“deceit, fraud”).[6] De Vaan reconstructs that noun as Proto-Italic *frawV- and, uncertainly, Proto-Indo-European *dhrou-V́-d(h)-; he favours Schrijver's link with a root meaning “deceive” seen in Sanskrit ध्रुति (dhrúti, “deception, error”), and rejects Szemerényi's derivation from Proto-Indo-European *dhreugh- (“to deceive”) as resting on ad hoc assumptions.[6] The spelling with ⟨ū⟩ is compared by Lewis & Short to frūstrā (“in vain”) and to the compounds of claudō.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Plautus;[6][2] in the Pseudolus a character asks whether the other means to hang himself just to cheat him, ut mē dēfrūdēs.[2][7]
Semantic evolution
In Plautus and Terence sē, animum or genium suum dēfraudāre is to deny oneself, to stint one's own desires,[2][7] and Cato writes of cheating the crop, sowing too little seed.[2][8] With an ablative it is to cheat someone out of something,[2] as in the proverbial nē andabatā quidem dēfraudāre in a letter of Cicero.[2][7] Lewis & Short call it ante-classical and late, found twice in Cicero and only in proverbial phrases;[3] Cicero also uses it of a speech whose brevity cheats the ear.[8][7] Petronius has nihil sibi dēfraudāre, to deny oneself nothing,[2][8] and Apuleius and the Vulgate use it with an ablative of what one is cheated of.[8] Ecclesiastical Latin has it in the sense to cheat, defraud,[9] and Old French defrauder and English defraud come from it.[5]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of cheating someone and of denying oneself.[2][10]
- 234–149 BC – Cato writes of cheating the crop.[2][10]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in proverbial phrases.[3][10]
- before 66 AD – Petronius has nihil sibi dēfraudāre.[2][10]
- late 14th century – English borrows it, through Old French, as defraud.[5]
Meanings
Verb
- To cheat, defraud, swindle.[2][8][9]
- (with an ablative or a double accusative) To cheat (someone) out of, rob of.[2][7]
- sē (animum, genium suum) dēfraudāre: to deny oneself, to stint one's own wants;[2][8] nihil sibi dēfraudāre: to deny oneself nothing.[2][8]
- segetem dēfraudāre: to cheat the crop, to sow too little seed.[2]
- aurēs dēfraudāre: to disappoint the ear (of a speech that stops too soon).[8][7]
Word family
- dēfraudātiō
- dēfraudātor
- defraudatrix
Related words
References
- ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de