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discooperio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word discooperio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
after 220 AD, Itala
Ultimate origin
Latin dis-,cooperiō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cooperio
French couvrir
Italian coprire
Latin discooperio
French découvrir
From the same root
French recouvrir ← couvrir
Italian scoprire ← coprire

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɪs.ko.ɔˈpɛ.ri.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [dis.ko.oˈpɛː.ri.o][1]

Forms

discooperiō (present infinitive discooperīre, perfect active discooperuī, supine discoopertum); fourth conjugation[1] Also spelt discoperiō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- (“apart, un-”) + cooperiō (“to cover over”).[2][1] It is the source of Italian scoprire, French découvrir and Spanish descubrir,[2] and through Old French descovrir of English discover.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Old Latin Bible (Itala), in Isaiah 47.2 as Jerome quotes it: discooperī vēlāmentum, “uncover the veil”.[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In the Bible translations it means “to uncover, lay bare, expose”: a roof, the head, the shoulder, nakedness;[2][7] rarely “to strip oneself”.[2] It is also used figuratively, of revealing.[2][7] The word is attested in the eighth-century Reichenau Glossary.[1] Medieval writers use it for uncovering an altar or a body, opening a vessel or a grave, unroofing a house, betraying a secret, and its participle discoopertus for “open, bare”.[3]

Timeline

  • after 220 AD – The Old Latin Bible has it of uncovering a veil.[2][6]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has it in Leviticus 18.7, of uncovering nakedness.[8][9][6]
  • 8th century – Attested in the Reichenau Glossary.[1]
  • c. 1300 – Borrowed into English through Old French as discover, “to reveal, expose”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To uncover, lay bare, expose.[7][8][10]
  2. To take off, remove (a covering).[7][10]
  3. (figurative) To disclose, reveal.[7][2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) To open (a vessel, a grave); to unroof; to betray (a secret).[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Discooperio.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/discooperio. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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