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exsulo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word exsulo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (exsul)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin exsul
Latin exsulo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɛks.sʊ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛks.su.lo][1]

Forms

exsulō (present infinitive exsulāre, perfect active exsulāvī, supine exsulātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled exulō, and archaic exsolō and exolō occur.[2] Inscriptions write exul-, without s.[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin exsul (“exile”) + -ō.[1][2] De Vaan finds several origins possible for exsul: a verb ⟨*ex-sulere⟩ “to take out” from the root Proto-Indo-European *selh₁- (“to take”) of cōnsul, a link with ambulō “who walks out”, or the root of Ancient Greek ἐλαύνω (elaúnō, “to drive”).[3] The OLD notes that the ancients connected it with solum “ground”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] in whose Trinummus some have gone off into exile.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to be an exile or live in exile: Cicero discusses a man who had the right to live in exile at Rome, and Livy has a man going off to the Volsci into exile.[2] Lewis & Short call it classical and note figurative uses.[2] Wiktionary also gives a transitive sense, to banish.[1] Church Latin glosses it to live in exile, to banish or be banished.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of going into exile.[2][3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the right to live in exile.[2][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of going into exile among the Volsci.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be an exile, live in exile.[2][1][6]
  2. To banish, expel.[1][6]

Word family

  • exsulātus

References

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

“Exsulo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/exsulo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·