futo

Forms

fūtō (present infinitive fūtāre, perfect active fūtāvī, supine fūtātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2] Wiktionary takes it as a back-formation from Latin cōnfūtō (“to refute, confound”).^[1] Paulus' epitome of Festus derives ⟨cōnfūtō⟩ from it instead.^[3] De Vaan sets up a simple verb ⟨fūtō⟩ “to strike” behind ⟨cōnfūtō⟩ and refūtō, perhaps from Proto-Italic *fūt-.^[2] The meaning makes a link with Old English bēatan and Old High German bōzzan (“to strike”) attractive, but the Latin has a final /t/; a Proto-Indo-European root with different extensions in Latin and Germanic is unattractive, and de Vaan suggests a substrate root realised differently in each branch.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is known only from Paulus' epitome of Festus, which explains fūtāre as arguere, “to prove wrong”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The simple verb is a lexicographers' word: besides Festus, the glossaries render it with Greek elénchō, “refute”, and with arguit and reprimit.^[5] The compounds cōnfūtō and refūtō are the forms in actual use.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 150–200 AD – Festus' dictionary, known from Paulus' epitome, explains fūtāre as arguere.^[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To prove wrong, refute.^[3][4][5]

Word family

• cōnfūtō
• refūtō

Related words

• fūtilis

Usage notes

The same note in Festus adds that Cato used fūtāre for “to have been often”.^[3] Gaffiot and Georges therefore list it as a separate verb, related to fuī, the perfect of sum;^[4][7] Georges reports that Corssen emended the passage to make it the same verb as “refute”.^[7] A gloss gives futavit as fuit.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn