distortus

Forms

distortus (feminine distorta, neuter distortum), comparative distortior, superlative distortissimus; first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin distorqueō (“to twist apart, distort”).^[1][2] That verb is a compound of dis- and torqueō (“to twist”),^[3] which goes back to Proto-Italic *torkʷ-eie- and the causative Proto-Indo-European *torkʷ-eie- (“to twist”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[4] who uses it of misshapen people and figuratively of a warped state of mind.^[1][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Of the body it means twisted or deformed: Horace has distortis cruribus, “with crooked legs”, Quintilian a distorted face and body, Varro masks with twisted mouths, and Suetonius limbs bent by arthritis.^[6][7] Cicero cites the Stoic saying that only the wise are handsome, even if they are most misshapen.^[6] Suetonius uses the plural noun for deformed people beside dwarfs.^[6]

In a figurative sense it means perverse: Cicero speaks of a disposition neither warped nor depraved, and calls one way of stating a proposition the most contorted of all.^[1][6][7] Augustine uses it of perverse people and Cassiodorus of the twisted cunning of heretics.^[6] In medieval Latin it could mean evasive.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of deformed people and of perverse dispositions.^[1][6][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace writes of distortis cruribus.^[6][7][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a distorted face.^[6][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses the plural for deformed people.^[6][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of perverse people.^[6][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Misshapen, deformed, twisted, crooked.^[1][6]
2. (of behaviour) perverse, warped.^[1][6]
3. (of style) Contorted, involved.^[6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) evasive.^[8]

Related words

• distorqueō
• torqueō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill