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dissipo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word dissipo

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*sup-i-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdɪs.sɪ.poː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdis.si.po][1]

Forms

dissipō (present infinitive dissipāre, perfect active dissipāvī, supine dissipātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled dissupō.[2][3] Lucretius splits it by tmesis, disque supātīs.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from dis- (“apart”) and supō (“to throw”), which Festus glosses “throws”.[2][4][5] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *sup-i- (“to throw”) and Proto-Indo-European *sup-i- (“to throw”), cognate with Lithuanian sùpti (“to rock, cradle”), but calls the analysis somewhat uncertain: the simple verb is known only from Festus and may be a back-formation.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fragment of Plautus has “I'll scatter you like coltsfoot leaves”, and Ennius “the wave scatters his limbs piece by piece”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to scatter or disperse, of things, of people, as Sisenna's men who went off in all directions, of morbid matter in Vitruvius, and of cares, as Horace's “Bacchus scatters cares”.[2][3] It is to spread rumours, as in the Rhetorica ad Herennium.[2][3] It is to shatter or destroy completely, as in Ennius, and to squander, as Caecilius' “how much more gladly you squander what you get from a thrifty father!”.[2][3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “lay waste, destroy, scatter, abolish, waste”.[7] English dissipate in the early 15th century meant to scatter or drive off.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of scattering leaves.[2][8]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of scattered limbs.[2][8]
  • 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius of squandering.[2][8]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of scattering cares.[2][8]
  • early 15th century – Borrowed into English as dissipate.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To Scatter, disperse.[2][3][1][7]
  2. To spread (rumours).[2][3]
  3. To shatter, demolish, destroy completely.[2][3][1][7]
  4. To squander.[2][3][1][7]

Word family

  • dissipātiō
  • dissipator
  • dissipatrix
  • dissipābilis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Dissipo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dissipo. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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