Etymologically
Log in

discurro

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word discurro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 50 BC, Caesar
Ultimate origin
Latin (currō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin curro
French courir
French courant
Latin recurro
Latin concurro
Latin transcurro
Latin cursus
English corsair
French cours
Latin discurro
Latin discursus
English discourse
French discours
Latin cursor
Latin excurro
Latin excursio
Latin succurro
Latin praecurro
Latin accurro
Latin accursus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɪsˈkʊr.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [disˈkur.ro][1]

Forms

discurrō (present infinitive discurrere, perfect active discurrī, supine discursum); third conjugation[1] Besides discurrī the reduplicated perfect discucurrī is found in Livy, the elder Seneca and Suetonius.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + currō (“to run”).[2][1][4] De Vaan traces ⟨currō⟩ to Proto-Italic *korse/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kr̥s-e/o- (“to run”), cognate with Old Irish carr (“vehicle”) and with the Gaulish source of Latin carrus.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is Caesar, who describes the armed citizens running about on the walls.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means “to run off in different directions”, and also “to run about, to and fro”: Ovid has Pan delighting to run about the high mountains.[2] It is said of things that spread in different directions, as Virgil's Nile running out through seven mouths, and of the mind or a speaker branching out or ranging over a subject.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “run to and fro”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of people running about.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of the Nile branching out.[2][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of running about and of the mind divided.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To run off in several directions, disperse; to run about, to and fro, roam.[2][3][1][6]
  2. Of things, to run or extend in different directions.[2]
  3. Of the mind or a speaker, to branch out; to range over a subject.[2]

Word family

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 k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b 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

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Discurro.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/discurro. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·