despero

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [deːsˈpeː.roː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [desˈpɛː.ro]^[1]

Forms

dēspērō (present infinitive dēspērāre, perfect active dēspērāvī, supine dēspērātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from dē- (“without”) and spērō “to hope”.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citations are from Cicero, of despairing.^[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Transitively it meant to give up as hopeless, despair of, as Cicero's giving up hope of office, of doctors to despair of curing a disease, as in Seneca, and to give up hope of doing something, as in Ovid.^[2][5] Intransitively it meant to lose hope, despair, of or for something, as in Cicero.^[2] Lewis and Short call it frequent and Classical.^[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to despair.^[7] It survives in Italian disperare, and Spanish desperar is a borrowing.^[1] Through Old French desperer it is the source of English despair in the mid-14th century, English desperate comes from its participle dēspērātus about 1400, and English desperado is a mock-Spanish form of about 1600.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of despairing.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it with an infinitive.^[2][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of incurable diseases.^[2][4]
• mid-14th century – English despair is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give up as hopeless, despair of.^[2]
2. To give up hope of curing.^[2]
3. (intransitive) To lose hope, despair.^[2]

Word family

• dēspērābilis
• dēspērātiō

Related words

• spērō
• English despair
• English desperate
• English desperado

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson