Etymologically
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grassor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɡras.sɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɡras.sor][1]

Forms

grassor (present infinitive grassārī, perfect active grassātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is a frequentative from Latin gradior (“to step, walk”), formed with the suffix of ⟨-tō⟩ verbs.[2][1][3] The grammarian Macrobius already called it an iterative of that verb.[3] De Vaan traces gradior to Proto-Italic *grad-(e)i- and Proto-Indo-European *g(h)rd(h)-(e)i-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it of sheep straying about.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first to press on, march, advance.[2] Of robbers and pirates it is to roam in search of victims, to prowl: Livy has a gang of young men roaming in the Subura, and Vitruvius uses it of charlatans going about unpunished.[2] Figuratively it is to go to work or behave in some way, as Sallust's man who acts on desire and anger, the worst of counsellors.[2] It is also to act violently, to run riot or rage, especially of diseases, as Tacitus' archers who inflict many wounds from a distance.[2] Lewis & Short note that Cicero and Caesar do not use it.[5] Festus reports that the ancients used it for adūlārī, to flatter.[2][3] Church Latin glosses it to rage, be violent.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of straying sheep.[2]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of acting on desire and anger.[2][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of young men prowling the Subura.[2]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of archers.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To press on, march, advance.[2][5][1]
  2. To roam in search of victims, prowl.[2][1]
  3. To go to work, proceed, behave (in some way).[2]
  4. To act violently, run riot, rage, especially of diseases; to attack.[2][1][6]
  5. (early Latin, according to Festus) To flatter.[2]

Word family

  • dēgrassor
  • grassātiō
  • grassātor
  • grassātūra

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 j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de