introrsum

Forms

intrōrsum (not comparable)^[1] It is also found as introrsus, intrōsum and intrōsus,^[2][3] and uncontracted as introversus (introvorsus).^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin intrō¹ (“inside”) + versus² (“towards”), contracted.^[2][4][5][1] De Vaan explains ⟨intrō⟩ as an old ablative of Proto-Indo-European *h₁en-tero- (“situated within”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₁en (“in”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it from Lucretius,^[7] who writes of breath of which part is driven out and part withdraws inwards;^[2] Varro has trees leaning inwards.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means inwards, to the inside: Livy has the enemy taken into the middle of the camp, and Caesar a wooded hill that could not easily be seen into.^[2][5][8] It also means on the inside or within: Sallust says that Bithynia is the first part of Asia, going inwards, and Livy reports tribunes shouting that there was no strength within.^[2][8]

Figuratively it is inwardly, at heart: Seneca tells someone to hide grief inwardly, says that things shine outside but are wretched within, and calls a man happy inwardly.^[2][5][8] Horace writes of a man whom his whole household sees to be foul within,^[5] and Ovid of tears welling up inside.^[2][5] British Medieval Latin also uses it for inwardly or privately.^[9] English formed introrse from introrsus in 1831.^[10]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of breath withdrawing inwards.^[2][7]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar has introrsus of a hill hard to see into.^[2][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a man foul within.^[5][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of hidden grief.^[2][7]
• 1831 – English forms introrse from introrsus.^[10]

Meanings

Adverb

1. To the inside, inwards.^[2][5]
2. On the inside, within, internally.^[2][5]
3. (figurative) Inwardly, at heart.^[2][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Privately.^[9]

Related words

• retrōrsum

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com