diffindo

Forms

diffindō (present infinitive diffindere, perfect active diffidī, supine diffissum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + findō (“to split”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan derives findō from Proto-Italic *find-e- and the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *bʰi-n-d- (“to cleave”).^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit भिनत्ति (bhinátti, “splits”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai, “to spare”) and Old English bītan (“to bite”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL reads it from the Twelve Tables on,^[3][4] where it is a legal term: diēs diffissus estō, “let the day be put off”, of postponing a trial.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is to split something along its length: Cato uses it of splitting a vine through the pith, Varro of a branch, Lucretius of the earth split open and Cicero of a rock.^[5][6][7] Horace speaks figuratively of opening city gates with bribes,^[6] and his phrase nihil hinc diffindere possum is read as “I cannot take anything away from this”.^[2][7] Besides the legal diem diffindere, to put off the day of a trial, Livy uses the phrase of a gloomy omen that put off the day for a man proposing a law.^[2][6]

Manuscripts often confuse it with diffundō and dēfundō.^[3] In medieval Latin it keeps the sense of splitting by force, of wood or a tongue pierced by a lance.^[8] VOLI warns against confusing its perfect diffidī with the present of diffīdō “to distrust”.^[9]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of splitting a vine.^[5][10]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the earth split open.^[6][10]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of splitting a rock.^[7][10]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of opening city gates with gifts.^[6][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To divide (usually lengthwise), split, cleave open.^[2][5]
2. (figurative) To split off, take away from.^[2][7]
3. (law) diem diffindere, to adjourn the day of a trial or business.^[2][6]

Word family

• diffissiō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de