Etymologically
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devito

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈwiː.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈviː.to][1]

Forms

dēvītō (present infinitive dēvītāre, perfect active dēvītāvī, supine dēvītātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + vītō (“to avoid”), and Paulus' Festus explains it as “to avoid thoroughly”.[2][3][1] For vītō de Vaan prefers a link with invītus (“unwilling”), from Proto-Italic *wīto- (“wanted”) and Proto-Indo-European *uih₁-to- (“wished for”), which requires that a simple ⟨*vītus⟩ was made back from ⟨*dē-vītus⟩ “avoiding”;[4] Walde and Hofmann had proposed ⟨*vi-itō⟩ “to go out of the way”, which he rejects.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Ennius and Plautus,[3] who in the Rudens uses it of escaping the waves.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is to keep clear of things concrete or abstract: Terence has an evil, Lucretius death, Cicero a storm of the times and pain, and Horace a small fortune and a shameful defeat at the polls.[5][2] The TLL notes contracted perfect forms from Cicero on, and some manuscripts spell it ⟨di-⟩.[3] Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.[5] Stelten gives “avoid, shun”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of escaping waves.[5][3][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, of avoiding an evil.[5][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of escaping death.[5][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of avoiding pain.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To avoid, shun, keep clear of.[2][5][1][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b 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 h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de