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discrepo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word discrepo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
170–c. 90 BC, Accius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ḱrep-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin crepo
French crever
Latin crepito
Latin crepitus
Latin discrepo
Latin increpo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdɪs.krɛ.poː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdis.kre.po][1]

Forms

discrepō (present infinitive discrepāre, perfect active discrepāvī or discrepuī, future active participle discrepātūrus); first conjugation, no passive, no supine stem except in the future active participle[1] The perfect is discrepāvī in Varro and Cicero and discrepuī in Horace.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- (“apart”) + crepō (“to rattle, sound”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces crepō to Proto-Italic *krepa- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱrep- (“to rattle, crackle”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Accius.[4] Its literal sense, to differ in sound, is rare, perhaps only in Cicero, who compares the slight discord of strings or pipes that an expert notices.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

From sounding out of tune it comes to mean to be out of harmony or inconsistent: Cicero writes that speech, the interpreter of the mind, may differ in words while agreeing in thought.[2] Of opinions and reports it is to disagree, and of people to differ in opinion, often impersonally, as Varro's “in medicine the writers disagree”.[2][5] Church Latin glosses it differ, disagree, vary.[6]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it.[4][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of writers who disagree.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of sounds out of tune and of words and thoughts at odds.[2][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace has the perfect discrepuī.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To differ in sound, be out of tune.[2][5]
  2. To be out of harmony, inconsistent; to differ, disagree; impersonally, there is a difference of opinion.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • discrepantia
  • discrepātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 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 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Discrepo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/discrepo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·