deverticulum

Forms

dēverticulum n (genitive dēverticulī); second declension^[1] Manuscripts and editions of Plautus and Terence usually spell it ⟨dēvorticulum⟩.^[2] The spelling ⟨dīverticulum⟩ is found in Pliny the Elder and in many manuscripts.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēvertō (“to turn aside; to put up at an inn”) + -culum.^[2][1] That verb is a compound of dē- and vertō (“to turn”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *wert-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *uert-e/o- (“to turn”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[5] of a way out: in the Captivi a speaker says there is no shelter for boldness and no way of escape for tricks.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is a turning off the main road, a byway: Terence has a speaker who reached the turning and stopped, and Cicero asks what byways and windings someone sought.^[2][3] Servius explains dēverticula as side paths off a military road.^[6] It was also used of a branch of an aqueduct or river, in Pliny the Elder, Frontinus and the Digest.^[2]

Figuratively it meant a deviation from the right course, a circumlocution, a loophole or means of evasion, and a digression in speech or writing, as when Livy seeks pleasant digressions for his readers.^[2] Because travellers turned off the road to stay the night, it also meant an inn or resting place;^[2][6] Tacitus has Nero roaming the streets, brothels and such resorts.^[2][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a means of escape.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a turning off the road.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of byways and of a loophole.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a digression and of a resting place.^[2][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a circumlocution.^[2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of resorts.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A turning off the main road, a byway;^[2][3] a branch (of an aqueduct or river).^[2]
2. (figurative) A deviation;^[2] a circumlocution.^[2]
3. A means of evasion, a loophole.^[2]
4. A digression.^[2][1]
5. A place to stop on a journey, an inn, lodging.^[2][3]

Related words

• dēvertō
• dēversus

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 k l m n o p q r s t u v Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften