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diruo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word diruo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
190–159 BC, Terence
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*(H)reuH-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin ruo
Latin subruo
Latin proruo
Latin diruo
Latin corruo
Latin obruo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdiː.ru.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdiː.ru.o][1]

Forms

dīruō (present infinitive dīruere, perfect active dīruī, supine dīrutum); third conjugation[1] Inscriptions have the perfect participles dīritus and dīruitus.[2] Manuscripts and glossaries often confuse it with dēruō.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + ruō (“to tear out, dig”), with the transitive verb.[2][3][1] De Vaan lists it under the ⟨ruō⟩ that means “to dig”, from Proto-Italic *rowe/o- and Proto-Indo-European *(H)reuH-e/o-; its derivatives were mixed up with those of ⟨ruō⟩ “to rush”.[4] Cognate with Lithuanian ráuti (“to tear out, pull”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Terence,[4] who has a character tell another to pull down a garden wall.[5]

Semantic evolution

It means to cause a building to fall in ruins, to demolish or pull down, and Cicero uses it of a city.[2][5] In Varro, reported by Nonius, aere dirutus is a soldier whose pay has been stopped as a punishment.[2] Lewis & Short compare dēleō, ēvertō and dēmōlior.[5]

Church Latin glosses it “destroy, demolish, overthrow”.[6]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of pulling down a wall.[5][4][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a soldier whose pay is stopped.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of destroying a city.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To demolish, pull down, wreck; to destroy.[2][5][1]
  2. aere dirutus, of a soldier, with his pay stopped.[2][5]

Word family

  • dīrutiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Diruo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/diruo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·