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defringo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word defringo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
234–149 BC, Cato
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*bʰr-n-ǵ-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin frango
Latin effringo
Latin fragilis
Latin fragilitas
Latin infringo
Latin refringo
Latin perfringo
Latin fragmen
Latin anfractus
Latin defringo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈfrɪŋ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈfriŋ.ɡo][1]

Forms

dēfringō (present infinitive dēfringere, perfect active dēfrēgī, supine dēfrāctum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + frangō (“to break”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces frangō to Proto-Italic *frang- and the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *bʰr-n-ǵ- (“to break”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Cato,[3] who, in the De agri cultura, tells the reader to break the neck off an amphora, amphoram dēfrāctō collō.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is used of breaking off a part of something: Varro and Virgil of plants and shoots, Cicero of a branch of a tree and of a sprig, and Virgil of the iron head broken off a spear.[5] With an immaterial object it means to take something away, impair: Seneca speaks of a good that is never lessened, quod numquam dēfringitur, and Apuleius uses it the same way.[2]

Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.[5] The TLL notes that the manuscripts of Plautus give ⟨dēfringō⟩ in two places where editors read diffringō.[3]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato writes of breaking off the neck of an amphora.[5][3]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of plants.[5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of breaking off a branch.[5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a good that is never lessened.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To remove by breaking, break off.[2][5]
  2. To break to pieces.[5]
  3. (figurative) To take away from, lessen.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Defringo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/defringo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·