Etymologically
Log in

exsero

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word exsero

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 50 BC, Caesar
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ser-e/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin sero
French soir
French soirée
French bonsoir
Latin sator
Latin insero
Latin obsero
Latin assero
Latin exsero
Latin dissero
Latin series
English series

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɛks.sɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛks.se.ro][1]

Forms

exserō (present infinitive exserere, perfect active exseruī, supine exsertum); third conjugation[1] It is very often spelled exerō.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“out”) + serō (“to join, string together”).[2][1][4] De Vaan traces serō to Proto-Italic *sere/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ser-e/o- (“to thread, tie together”), comparing Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “to knit together”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is in Caesar's Gallic War, of baring part of the body.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to thrust out or stretch forth: Livy has a Gaul thrusting out his tongue in mockery, and Pliny the Elder a tongue put out through the mouth.[2][3] With caput it is to raise one's head, to become eminent.[2] Reflexively it is to free oneself, as in Ovid of an unborn child seeking a way out of its mother.[2] It is also to lay bare part of the body, to draw a sword, as Ovid's goddess of war with drawn swords, and in the passive participle to be stripped for fighting.[2] Seneca uses it of revealing the secrets of the mind, and a declamation of exercising one's freedom.[2] Lewis & Short call it mostly post-Augustan.[3] Church Latin glosses it to exert, put forth, reveal, show.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of baring part of the body.[2][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a Gaul thrusting out his tongue.[2][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of drawn swords.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To thrust out, stretch forth; reflexively, to free oneself.[2][3][1]
  2. To lay bare, uncover; to draw a sword.[2][1]
  3. To reveal, disclose, show.[2][6]
  4. To exercise, exert.[2][6]

Word family

  • exsertō

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. ^ a b 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 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

“Exsero.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/exsero. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·