Etymologically
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ditesco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [diːˈteːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [diˈtɛs.ko][1]

Forms

dītēscō (present infinitive dītēscere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dīs (“rich”) + -ēscō, an inchoative verb built on the stem ⟨dīt-⟩.[2][1] The TLL derives it from dīves “rich”, of which the base is a contracted form.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest use is in Lucretius, who speaks of killing wild beasts and growing rich on the plunder.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it a poetic word.[4] Horace and Persius use it of growing rich,[4][5] while Lucretius also uses it figuratively, of being enriched with sweet offspring, and so does Claudian.[4][6] Christian writers took it up: Augustine speaks of growing rich in mind,[5] and the Old Latin Bible renders the Second Letter to the Corinthians with Christus sē ipsum, ut nōs dītēscerēmus, paupertāvit, “Christ made himself poor so that we might grow rich”.[6]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of growing rich on plunder, and figuratively.[3][4][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Satires.[4][7]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius uses it.[4][7]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of growing rich in mind.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To grow rich.[2][4]
  2. (figurative) To be enriched, with offspring or in mind.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c 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 h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de