dito

Forms

dītō (present infinitive dītāre, perfect active dītāvī, supine dītātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dīs (“rich”) + -ō, a verb made from the contracted adjective, the stem ⟨dīt-⟩ of dīves (“rich”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan explains dīves as probably derived from dīvus (“divine”), as ⟨*deiu̯-(o/e)t-⟩, “one who is like the gods or protected by them”; contraction in the old genitive ⟨dītis⟩ produced the short stem.^[4] The uncontracted verb dīvitāre is older: de Vaan dates it from Accius, and Lewis and Short cite the form ⟨divitant⟩ from Accius and Turpilius.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it first in the Rhetorica ad Herennium,^[3][6] which speaks of a city triumphis ditata certissimis, “enriched by the surest triumphs”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its sense is to enrich with money or other possessions.^[2] Lucretius has roads enriched with generous coins, Livy has soldiers and allies enriched with booty and rewards, and Horace writes me benignitas tua ditavit, “your generosity has made me rich”.^[5][3] In the passive it means to grow rich: Livy has a king eager ditari.^[7][3] Horace gives it a non-personal subject, a sea that enriches Arabs and Indians, and uses it figuratively of Ennius enriching the native tongue;^[2][8] Columella has nature enriching each land with its own gifts.^[2][8] In Christian texts it renders Greek words for becoming rich: an early translation of First Corinthians has iam ditati estis, where the Vulgate has divites facti estis.^[3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to endow, enrich.^[9]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium speaks of a city enriched by triumphs.^[3][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of roads enriched with generous coins.^[5][8][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a sea that enriches Arabs and Indians and of Ennius enriching the Latin language.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of soldiers enriched with booty, and the passive of growing rich.^[5][7][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To enrich, make rich with money or other possessions.^[2][5]
2. (passive) To grow rich.^[7][3]
3. Of things, to enrich, bring wealth to.^[2]
4. (figurative) To enrich, endow, as a language with new words.^[2][9]

Related words

• dīves
• dītēscō
• dīvitiae

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson