extero

Forms

exterō (present infinitive exterere, perfect active extrīvī, supine extrītum); third conjugation^[1] Beside the perfect ⟨extrīvī⟩ the TLL records ⟨exteruī⟩.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“out”) + terō (“to rub”).^[3][2][1] De Vaan traces terō to Proto-Italic *tera- and Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub”), with the ⟨ī⟩ of the perfect and participle perhaps from *treh₁-i-.^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek τείρω (teírō, “to oppress, weaken”) and Lithuanian tìrti (“to investigate”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Plautus on, though the form in Plautus is a disputed reading, and then in Varro, Lucretius and Ovid.^[2] Lucretius uses it of fire struck out by strong force.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to bring out by rubbing, and in farming to thresh out grain: Varro and Columella have grain trodden out of the ear by the hooves of animals, and Pliny the Elder a harvest threshed by the tread of mares.^[3][6] It also meant to rub away or wear down:^[3][7] Pliny the Elder writes of sea water rubbing rust off iron and of a stone polished so that its useless parts are worn away, and Quintilian advises that the file should polish a work, not wear it away.^[3][5] Apuleius' ass limps on worn-down hooves, and a soldier's letter on papyrus asks for a tunic because he has worn his out.^[3]

The grammarians used it of a letter or syllable dropped in pronunciation: Varro explains Camena from Casmena with the ⟨s⟩ elided, and Gellius speaks of an elided ⟨u⟩.^[3][6] A further sense is to crush or trample: Ovid's soldier will tread down heaped snow, Seneca writes of a man crushed under a great weight, and Statius of a hoof crushing limbs.^[3][7] The Vulgate's Sirach uses it of a foot that wears down the steps of a wise man's door.^[6] Lewis and Short note that it is rare and not found in Cicero.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of threshing grain and of an elided letter.^[3][8]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of fire struck out.^[3][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of treading down snow.^[3][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of rubbing off rust.^[3][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of wearing down a doorstep.^[6][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bring out by rubbing; especially, to thresh out (grain).^[3][6]
2. To rub away, remove by rubbing; to wear down, wear out.^[3][7]
3. (grammar) To drop in pronunciation, elide (a letter or syllable).^[3][6]
4. To crush, trample.^[3][7]

Related words

• terō
• conterō
• atterō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de