devio

Forms

dēviō (present infinitive dēviāre, perfect active dēviāvī, supine dēviātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dē (“off”) + via (“road”), from the phrase “off the road”,^[1][2] or from the adjective dēvius “out of the way”; the TLL gives both.^[3] Lewis & Short take it as a late replacement for dē viā dēclīnāre or dēvertere.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a word of later Latin;^[3] Symmachus already has it,^[3][4][5] in the sense “turn aside, stray”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Used first of literally leaving the road and of heavenly bodies that swerve from their course, as in Macrobius,^[4][6] it was soon used figuratively, of straying from the truth or from right conduct, as in the Vulgate.^[4][7] The TLL notes that poets hardly use it (only Ausonius and Corippus).^[3] It also occurs transitively, “turn aside, lead away”, in Cassiodorus.^[7]

Medieval writers used it of straying and deviating both literally and figuratively, of bending away, and of digressing.^[8] English deviate comes from its participle (1630s).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it.^[3][4][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine speaks of the habit of going astray.^[6][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of turning away from the truth.^[4][5]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it of a heavenly body that never strays towards the north.^[6][5]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it transitively, “turn aside”.^[7][5]
• 1630s – English forms deviate from its participle.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Late Latin, intransitive) To turn aside from the road, stray, deviate.^[4][6][9]
2. (Late Latin, figurative) To depart from what is true or right, go astray.^[4][7]
3. (Late Latin, transitive) To turn aside, divert.^[7][3]
4. (Medieval Latin) To bend away; to digress.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson