detergeo

Forms

dētergeō (present infinitive dētergēre, perfect active dētersī, supine dētersum); second conjugation, third person-only in the passive^[1] A third-conjugation present dētergō also occurs.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- (“off”) + tergeō (“to wipe”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *terg- for tergeō and finds no certain cognates outside Italic; a link with a Sanskrit verb meaning to crush is possible but doubtful.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Livius Andronicus, in his Latin Odyssey: dacrimas dē ōre noegeō dētersit, “wiped the tears from his face with a cloth”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is wiping away, as tears or sweat,^[2][5] and, by extension, wiping something clean, as Plautus has of wiping one's head with a cloak and Livy of cleaning the sewers.^[2][5] Horace uses it of a wind that clears the clouds from the sky.^[2][5] Caesar and Livy have it of breaking off projecting oars.^[2][5] Figuratively it is to remove or cleanse,^[5] and Cicero uses it in a letter of sweeping up a sum of money.^[5] A third-conjugation present dētergō also occurs, from Plautus onwards.^[3] Stelten gives "wipe away, cancel" for Church Latin.^[6]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus, of wiping away tears.^[3]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of wiping one's head.^[5][7]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar, of breaking off oars.^[2][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace, of a wind clearing the sky.^[2][7]
• 1620s – deterge is borrowed into English, through French.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wipe off, wipe away; figuratively, to drive away, remove.^[2][5][1]
2. To strip off, break off (projecting parts).^[2][5][1]
3. To wipe or rub clean, cleanse.^[2][5]

Word family

• detersio
• dētersus

Related words

• abstergeō
• circumtergeō
• extergeō
• pertergeō
• retergeō
• tergeō
• English deterge
• English detergent

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com