Etymologically
Log in

excursus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:23. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈskʊr.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈskur.sus][1]

Forms

excursus m (genitive excursūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin excurrō (“to run out”) + -tus, a fourth-declension noun of action.[2][3][1] excurrō is a compound of ex- and currō (“to run”),[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *korse/o- and Proto-Indo-European *krs-e/o- (“to run”).[4] He compares Old Irish carr (“vehicle”) and Ancient Greek ἐπίκουρος (epíkouros, “helper”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it once each in Caesar and Virgil,[3] Caesar of soldiers' first charge being broken.[2] Köbler dates it from Virgil,[5] who has bees trying short excursions.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a military raid, sortie or sally, and more generally a going out or an expedition.[2][6] It becomes more frequent from Columella and Pliny the Elder on.[3] Lewis & Short note that it is rare and not found in Cicero.[6] Seneca uses it of an outward movement of light, and Pliny the Younger of the outflow of water.[2][6] A declamation ascribed to Quintilian has the escapades of youth.[2] In Quintilian it is a digression in a speech,[2] and in Pliny the Elder a projecting part of the Pyrenees.[2] In medieval texts it is the development of a discussion, a sally-port, and a district dominated by a castle.[7] Church Latin has it as a running out, passage.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of a charge of soldiers.[2][3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of bees' short flights.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of a projecting mountain.[2][5]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of a digression.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (military) A raid, sortie, sally.[2][6][1]
  2. A going out, an excursion, expedition;[2][6][1] an outflow; an escapade.[2]
  3. A digression.[2][7]
  4. A projection of land.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A sally-port; a castle district.[7]

Word family

Usage notes

Excursus, -a, -um is also the participle of excurrō.[6]

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 p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson