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edisco

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word edisco

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*di-dḱ-sḱ-e/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin disco
Latin dedisco
Latin edisco
Latin perdisco
Latin condisco

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eːˈdɪs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈdis.ko][1]

Forms

ēdiscō (present infinitive ēdiscere, perfect active ēdidicī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“thoroughly”) + discō (“to learn”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces discō to Proto-Italic *dikske/o- and Proto-Indo-European *di-dḱ-sḱ-e/o- (“to take, accept”), a reduplicated present with an iterative suffix; he takes its meaning as "to take in repeatedly".[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, of someone who has not yet got to know the speaker's character thoroughly.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to learn a subject thoroughly, and above all to learn by heart: Varro speaks of names that could be memorised more quickly.[2] Cicero says that the poets are not only read but learned by heart, and Seneca that some things must be learned, indeed learned by heart.[5] Church Latin glosses it learn by heart, learn thoroughly.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of knowing a character thoroughly.[2][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of memorising names.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of poets learned by heart.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To get to know a subject thoroughly, study.[2][1]
  2. To learn by heart, memorize.[2][5][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Edisco.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/edisco. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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