Etymologically
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excurro

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈskʊr.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈskur.ro][1]

Forms

excurrō (present infinitive excurrere, perfect active excurrī or excucurrī, supine excursum); third conjugation[1] The perfect is usually excucurrī (Plautus, Livy, Pliny the Younger), less often excurrī.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“out”) + currō (“to run”).[2][4][1] De Vaan traces currō to Proto-Italic *korse/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kr̥s-e/o- (“to run”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Plautus' Bacchides, of someone who will learn that he has run out there in vain.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to run or rush out, and in war to make a sally; of water to flow out, as Curtius' spring from the top of a mountain, and of branches to grow out.[2][3] It is also to make an excursion, and in speech to go off into a digression: Cicero wants speech not to wander or run on too far.[2] Of places and buildings it means to jut out or extend, as Vitruvius' projecting bases, and in grammar a word to end in a form.[2] It also means to run to an amount, and to go beyond a limit, as Seneca's things that seem to go beyond human nature.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of running out on an errand.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a digression.[2][6]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of parts of a building that project.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of people rushing into the street.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To run or rush out; to make a sally; of water, to flow out; of shoots, to grow out.[2][3][1]
  2. To make an excursion; in speaking, to go off into a digression.[2][3]
  3. To jut out, project, extend; in grammar, to end in a form.[2][1]
  4. To run to an amount or weight; to go beyond a limit.[2]

Word family

  • excursiō
  • excursor
  • excursus
  • superexcurrō
  • excursō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de