deterioro

Forms

dēteriōrō (present infinitive dēteriōrāre, perfect active dēteriōrāvī, supine dēteriōrātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dēterior (“worse”) + -ō³.^[1][2] dēterior is a comparative formed on dē (“from, down from”),^[3] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *de (“here”), a particle.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a word of later Latin.^[2][4] The earliest record is in the Old Latin Bible (the Itala), in the Roman Psalter's verse “my wounds have festered and grown worse”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 4th century Symmachus writes of the value of a thing that had been damaged, and Ambrose says that wine is easily spoiled and made worse.^[2][6] Claudianus Mamertus uses it transitively for “make worse”, and Ambrosiaster intransitively for “degenerate”.^[7][4]

In the Middle Ages it meant both to spoil something and to grow worse.^[8] British sources use it in law of injuring a person or damaging property so that liability arose, and of a patient or a wound that took a turn for the worse.^[9] The past participle dēteriōrātus is the source of English deteriorate.^[10]

Timeline

• after 220 AD – The Old Latin Psalter uses it of wounds that grow worse.^[2][5]
• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus speaks of a damaged thing.^[2][6][5]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose writes that wine is easily made worse.^[2][11][5]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Claudianus Mamertus uses it for “make worse”.^[4][7][5]
• 1200 – An English court record complains that a man's cattle were damaged while detained.^[9]
• 1271 – A British record says wool and skins deteriorated through long detention.^[9]
• 1640s – English takes over deteriorate from its past participle.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Late Latin, transitive) To make worse, spoil, impair.^[2][4][8]
2. (Late Latin, intransitive) To become worse, deteriorate, degenerate.^[2][7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin, law) To injure a person or damage property, so that liability arises.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) Of a patient or ailment: to grow worse.^[9]

Word family

• dēteriōrātiō

Related words

• English deteriorate

Usage notes

The TLL notes that the present forms, active and passive, and the perfect passive are always transitive in meaning, while the perfect active is intransitive (“has grown worse”).^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre