Etymologically
Log in

disparo

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word disparo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC Plautus, Rudens More words from the 3rd century BC
Ultimate origin
Latin parō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin parō
Spanish parar
English pare
Latin disparō
Spanish disparar
From the same root
Latin apparō ← parō
Latin imperō ← parō
Latin parābilis ← parō
Latin parātus ← parō
Latin praeparō ← parō
Latin reparō ← parō
Latin sēparō ← parō
Spanish parada ← parō

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdɪs.pa.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdis.pa.ro][1]

Forms

disparō (present infinitive disparāre, perfect active disparāvī, supine disparātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dis- + parō (“to prepare, arrange”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,[2][3] in the prologue of the Rudens, where the ruler of the gods is said to scatter people among the nations: nos per gentis alios alia disparat (“he sends us apart, some to one people, some to another”).[2]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is to divide or separate, “rare but classical” in the words of Lewis and Short.[4] Cicero uses it of Servius Tullius separating the older citizens from the younger, and Caesar has it as well.[3][4] Vitruvius extends it to making things different,[2] and in rhetoric the participle disparatum named a term opposed to another by negation, as in sapere, non sapere.[4] The TLL notes that Ammianus Marcellinus often uses it and that the manuscripts sometimes confuse it with disseparo.[3]

In Medieval Latin it kept the sense “separate, remove” and was also used for “distinguish” and “divide up”.[5] Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan and Galician disparar and Italian disparare continue it.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the gods scattering people among the nations.[2][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a division of citizens by age, and the participle disparatum as a term of rhetoric.[3][4][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar has it in the Gallic War.[3][4][6]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for “make different”.[2][6]
  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses it of varying many phrasings of one idea.[3][6]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it often.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To divide, separate off, part.[2][4]
  2. To make different.[2]
  3. (intransitive) To differ (in extent).[2][3]
  4. (rhetoric, perfect participle) disparatum: a term set against another by negation.[4]
  5. (Medieval Latin) To distinguish; to divide up.[5]

Word family

  • disparasco
  • disparātiō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Disparo.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/disparo. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·