gyro

Forms

gȳrō (present infinitive gȳrāre, perfect active gȳrāvī, supine gȳrātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin gȳrus (“circle, circular course”),^[2][3][4][5] which is borrowed from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle, ring”).^[1][6] The TLL calls it a word of declining Latinity, not found in the classical authors.^[4] It survives in Italian girare, French girer and Spanish girar.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 AD) has the participle in orbis gȳrātus, “a rounded circle”;^[2][3][5] the TLL treats this passage apart and finds the verb itself only from the Old Latin Bible (Itala) on.^[4] Vegetius (c. 400 AD) uses sē gȳrāre of a horse turning in a circle.^[2][3][7][5]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it means “turn in a circle” and “go round” a thing (in the Vulgate, going round all the flocks or round a valley),^[7][2] and, used intransitively, “turn round, move round”, as of the sun in Ecclesiastes;^[2] Ambrose uses it so too.^[2][3] Manuscripts often spell it ⟨giro⟩, and curse tablets have ⟨guro⟩.^[4]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder has gȳrātus “rounded”.^[2][5]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius: a horse that is hard to turn in a circle.^[2][7][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for going round flocks and a valley.^[2][5]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it intransitively, “turn round”.^[2][3][5]
• 14th century – British medieval Latin uses it, as Köbler records from Latham.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To turn round in a circle, wheel round.^[7][2][3][1]
2. (transitive) To go round, encircle (a place or thing).^[7][2][1]
3. (intransitive) To turn round, revolve, move round.^[7][2][3][1]

Word family

• congȳrō
• regȳrō
• gȳrātus

Related words

• gȳrus
• English gyrate

Usage notes

British medieval sources have an unrelated noun gyrō, gyrōnis (also girō), the skirt or fold of a garment, from Anglo-Norman.^[8]

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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press