Etymologically
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detero

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdeː.tɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.te.ro][1]

Forms

dēterō (present infinitive dēterere, perfect active dētrīvī, supine dētrītum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + terō (“to rub”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces terō to Proto-Italic *tera- and Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub”), comparing Ancient Greek τείρω (teírō, “to oppress, distress, weaken”), Ancient Greek τρίβω (tríbō, “to rub, wear out”), Lithuanian tìrti (“to investigate”) and Old High German drāen (“to turn”).[4] Porphyrio explained it as “to lessen”, because what is rubbed is diminished.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL date it from Naevius.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

It is to wear down or away: Lucretius has paved roads worn by the feet of the crowd, Ovid shells worn smooth by the sea, Phaedrus a dog's neck chafed by the chain.[2] Cato uses it of rubbing off a husk, Columella of pounding herbs with oil and wine and of threshing grain.[2][5] Figuratively it is to lessen or impair: Horace fears he would diminish Caesar's praises through the fault of his talent.[2][5] Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic and post-Augustan, absent from Cicero and Caesar.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius.[4][3][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of rubbing off a husk.[2][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of worn paving stones.[2][5][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of diminishing praise.[2][5][6]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of grinding and threshing.[2][5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To wear down or away; to wear smooth; to chafe.[2][5][1]
  2. To rub off, remove.[2][1]
  3. To pound, grind; to thresh (grain).[2][5]
  4. To lessen, impair; to detract from.[2][5][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de