discursus

Forms

discursus m (genitive discursūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin discurrō (“to run about”) + -tus.^[2][3] discurrō is a compound of currō (“to run”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *korse/o- (“to run”) and Proto-Indo-European *kr̥s-e/o- (“to run”), comparing Old Irish carr (“vehicle”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Hirtius on, who tells how men fled in all directions with great shouting and running about.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is the action of running off in different directions, scattering: Livy fears that soldiers greedy for plunder could not be kept from it.^[2] It is also running this way and that, as in Ovid, Quintilian and Juvenal, and of things, free movement, as of a ship between the lines in Livy.^[2][5] Pliny the Elder uses it of a pattern of wavy lines, and Seneca of bustling activity.^[2] The plural appears from Ovid on.^[3] In Late Latin it came to mean conversation, and in Medieval Latin reasoning.^[6] Medieval documents also use it of an official tour or circuit, of traffic, and of the course of the stars.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Hirtius of men scattering in flight.^[3][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of soldiers dispersing for plunder.^[2][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca the Younger of bustling activity.^[2][8]
• late 14th century – English discourse is borrowed through French.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A running off in different directions, dispersal.^[2][5]
2. A running to and fro, running about; free movement.^[2][5][1]
3. A pattern of wavy lines.^[2]
4. Bustling activity.^[2]
5. (Late Latin) Conversation.^[6]
6. (Medieval Latin) An official tour, circuit; traffic; the course of the heavenly bodies.^[7]

Related words

• discurrō
• cursus
• English discourse

References

1. ^ a b 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 c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de