disserto

Forms

dissertō (present infinitive dissertāre, perfect active dissertāvī, supine dissertātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is a frequentative, from Latin disserō² (“to set out in words, discuss”) + -tō.^[2][3][4] De Vaan lists it, spelled ⟨disertāre⟩ “to discuss, talk about”, among the derivatives of serō² (“to join, link”),^[5] which goes back to Proto-Italic *sere/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ser-e/o- (“to thread, tie together”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Plautus (c. 250–184 BC),^[2][6] of talking a matter over: in the Menaechmi a character asks to be told what it is that the others are discussing (quod vos dissertatis).^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short describe the verb as ante-classical and post-Augustan, especially frequent in Tacitus.^[3] Cato used it with cum of arguing with someone,^[2][3] and Tacitus of what speakers set out in a speech.^[2] The glossaries explain its participle as dicens and perorans, and Venantius Fortunatus spells it disertare.^[4]

In medieval Latin it kept the sense of setting out or explaining, and a poem uses it with a double accusative for proclaiming something to be something.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of discussing a matter.^[2][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it with cum of arguing with someone.^[2][3][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of matters set out in speeches.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To discuss, argue or debate a matter (in conversation).^[2][3]
2. To set out or expound in a speech or discourse.^[2][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) To proclaim or declare someone or something to be something.^[7]

Word family

• dissertātiō
• dissertator
• ēdissertō

References

1. ^ 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 e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften