Etymologically
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distortus

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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]

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