Etymologically
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dirumpo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [diːˈrʊm.poː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [diˈrum.po][1]

Forms

dīrumpō (present infinitive dīrumpere, perfect active dīrūpī, supine dīruptum); third conjugation[1] It is also spelled dirrumpō and disrumpō.[2][3][4] Plautus has the participle dīrumptus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + rumpō (“to break”).[2][3][5][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of rumpō, which goes back to Proto-Italic *ru-n-p- (“to break”) and Proto-Indo-European *Hru-n-p- (“to break”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[6] meaning to smash or break apart: in the Bacchides a head is to be broken with a board.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Besides breaking things apart,[2][7] the passive meant to break or burst: a strap breaks in Varro, baskets burst under their load in Columella, an old rope snaps in Apuleius.[2] In colloquial use the passive was hyperbolic, to burst with envy, grief or laughter, as in Terence and Cicero's letters.[2][7] Cicero once uses the active of himself, saying he nearly burst himself.[7]

Figuratively it meant to break off or sever a bond, as friendships or the fellowship of mankind in Cicero, and a kingdom in the Vulgate.[7] English disrupt was later formed on the participle of the spelling disrumpō.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of breaking a head and of bursting.[6][2][10]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence has the hyperbolic dīrumpor!, “I'm bursting!”.[2][10]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of bursting with grief and of breaking off friendships.[2][7][10]
  • 1st century AD – Columella writes of baskets burst by their load.[2][10]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius writes of an old rope snapping and of bursting with laughter.[2][7][10]
  • 1650s – English forms disrupt from its participle.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make burst, break apart, shatter, split.[2][7]
  2. (passive) To break, burst;[2][7] (hyperbolic) to burst with envy, grief or laughter: dīrumpor dolōre “I am bursting with grief” (Cicero, Letters to Atticus 7.12.3).[2][7]
  3. (figurative) To break off, sever (a friendship, a bond).[7][4]

Word family

  • dīruptiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
  5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de