deversor

Forms

dēversor (present infinitive dēversārī, perfect active dēversātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1] Also spelled dēvorsor and dīversor.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + versō (“to keep turning”), according to the OLD;^[2] Wiktionary takes it as a frequentative of dēvertō (“to turn off the road for lodging”),^[1] and the TLL compares both verbs.^[4] The verb versō is itself the frequentative of vertō (“to turn”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *wert-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *uert-e/o- (“to turn”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Cicero on;^[4] in the Verrines he uses it of the house in which a man lodged, and of someone who lodged in poor style (parum laute).^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it rare but good prose.^[3] Cicero has it with apud and the host's name, of lodging with someone at Athens or at Laodicea, and with domī or in domō, of staying in someone's house.^[3][4] Livy uses it of shelters built so that those bringing supplies could stay in them;^[4] Valerius Maximus has it of a country house and of an inn, and Gellius of a hut outside the city.^[4]

Apuleius has the spelling dīversor and uses it of staying somewhere as a hired soldier.^[2][6] Tertullian applies it figuratively to dwelling in an act of penance,^[6] and Sulpicius Severus has two women living in one house.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of lodging in a house or with a host.^[4][2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of shelters for those bringing supplies.^[4][7]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius has the spelling dīversor.^[2][7]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it figuratively.^[6][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lodge, stay (usually for a time, as a guest), put up (somewhere or with someone).^[2][3]
2. (with an adverb) To have lodgings (of a certain kind).^[2]
3. (figurative) To dwell (in a state).^[6]

Related words

• dēvertō
• dēversōrium

Usage notes

A separate noun dēversor, -ōris m., “lodger, guest”, formed from dēvertō, is found once, in Cicero's De inventione, where many manuscripts read dīversor;^[2][3][8] Georges treats it as a bad reading for that word.^[6]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.