Etymologically
Log in

discursus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 21:07. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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]

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