deverto

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [deːˈwɛr.toː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [deˈvɛr.to]^[1]

Forms

dēvertō (present infinitive dēvertere, perfect active dēvertī, supine dēversum); third conjugation^[1] Also dēvortō, apparently usual in Plautus and Terence; it is often confused with dīvertō in the manuscripts.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- (“away”) + vertō (“to turn”).^[2][1] ⟨vertō⟩ is from Proto-Italic *wertō, from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus and Cato, of turning off the road to lodge.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Its main use was intransitive: to turn off the road to lodge, put up at an inn or with someone, as in Plautus, Terence and Cicero; and to turn aside, make a detour, or figuratively turn to something, as in Cicero.^[2][3] Transitively it meant to turn away, divert, as in Lucan's fāta suō cursū dēvertere “to turn the fates from their course” and Apuleius.^[2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to lodge, resort to, turn aside.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of lodging.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a detour.^[2][4]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of diverting.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To turn away, divert, (passive) to turn aside.^[2]
2. To turn aside, make a detour; to turn (to something).^[2]
3. To turn off the road to lodge, put up.^[2]

Word family

• dēversor
• dēversus
• dēverticulum

Related words

• vertō
• dīvertō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson