diserte

Forms

disertē (comparative disertius, superlative disertissimē)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin disertus (“eloquent; clear”) + -ē,^[1][3] the participle of disserō (“to set out in words”) used as an adjective.^[4] De Vaan places these words under serō² (“to join, link”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *sere/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ser-e/o- (“to thread, tie together”).^[5] Cognate with Oscan aserum (“to lay onto”) and Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “to knit together”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Plautus,^[3] who has satin hoc plane, satin diserte … videor tibi locutus esse?, “do I seem to you to have said this plainly enough, clearly enough?”.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus and later in Livy it means clearly and expressly, in plain words: Livy writes of something set down in a decree disertissimē plānissimēque, “most expressly and plainly”.^[1][6] From disertus “eloquent” it also means skilfully and eloquently: Cicero imagines a painter who has written or spoken eloquently about painting,^[1][2] and Nepos also has this sense.^[6] Tacitus uses the phrase disertē saltāre, opposed to tenere dīcere.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of speaking plainly.^[1][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of eloquent writing or speech.^[1][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses the superlative of an express decree.^[6][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Clearly, distinctly, expressly.^[1][6]
2. Eloquently, with skilful expression.^[1][6][2]

Related words

• disertus
• disertim
• disserō²

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b 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 c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn