derivo

Forms

dērīvō (present infinitive dērīvāre, perfect active dērīvāvī, supine dērīvātum); first conjugation^[1] Manuscripts often spell it dīrīvō.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from dē- and rīvus (“stream”) with the verbal suffix ⟨-ō⟩.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces rīvus to Proto-Italic *rīwo- (“stream”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃riH-uo- (“whirling”).^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit रीयते (rī́yate, “to flow, whirl”) and Ancient Greek ὀρίνω (orī́nō, “to whirl, stir”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it of drawing water off from a river, de fluvio aquam;^[5] Titinius speaks of someone who would divert the Tiber and enrich the land of Setia.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to draw or lead off water, to divert a river:^[2] Caesar has water drawn off from a river, and Seneca rivers led into houses.^[5] Figuratively it is to derive or draw from a source, as in Horace's disaster that flowed into the fatherland from this source,^[2] and to turn aside or divert, as in Cicero's dērīvandī crīminis causā, to divert the charge.^[2] In grammar Quintilian uses it of forming derivatives, such as vēlōx from vēlōcitās.^[2] Late Latin also used it in the sense “to derive”.^[3] Church Latin has it as to convey, divert or distribute.^[6] English derive (late 14th century) comes from it through Old French deriver.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of drawing water from a river.^[5][7]
• end of the 2nd/beginning of the 1st century BC – Titinius, of diverting the Tiber.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of diverting a charge.^[2][7]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of forming derivative words.^[2][7]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as derive, through Old French.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw or lead off water, to divert a river.^[2][5][1]
2. To derive or draw from a source.^[2][1]
3. To turn aside, divert attention or a charge.^[2][6]
4. (grammar) To form derivatives.^[2]

Related words

• rīvus
• dērīvātiō
• English derive

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b 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 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de