Etymologically
Log in

deverticulum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 19:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deː.wɛrˈtɪ.kʊ.ɫũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [de.verˈtiː.ku.lum][1]

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]

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