Etymologically
Log in

diverbero

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 15:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [diːˈwɛr.bɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [diˈvɛr.be.ro][1]

Forms

dīverberō (present infinitive dīverberāre, supine dīverberātum); first conjugation, no perfect stem[1] The OLD and Georges give a perfect dīverberāvī;[2][3] Lewis & Short record no perfect.[4] Manuscripts often have dēverberō instead.[5]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + verberō1 (“to beat, lash”).[2][1][6] The simple verb comes from verbera (“blows, lashes”), which de Vaan takes, with the derivative verbēna, to point to an old s-stem.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first, uncertainly, in Terence, and then in Lucretius,[5] who speaks of a force that would split things apart with a blow, meaning to cleave or split.[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In poetry and post-Augustan prose it meant striking apart:[4] Lucretius has heat beating through the airy waves, Virgil an arrow cleaving the breezes and a sword striking at shades in vain, Curtius waves split by a sea beast, and Seneca air breaking up the earth.[5][4] It also meant to beat hard: Apuleius has it of udders, and Lactantius of beating a slave.[3][5] Tertullian uses it of being beaten with a reed and fists, and Augustine reports the Epicurean view that the soul is scattered like smoke by the wind.[3][8]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of a force splitting things apart.[5][9]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of an arrow cleaving the air.[5][9]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it for beating hard.[3][9]
  • c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it of beating a slave.[4][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To split or part by striking, cleave, scatter.[2][4]
  2. To strike violently, batter, cudgel.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de