inversio

Forms

inversiō f (genitive inversiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin invertō (“to turn upside down, invert”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, as a term of rhetoric: an opening made through irony, ambiguity or insinuation.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its Classical use was rhetorical.^[2][4] It named saying something other than what the words state, by irony (Cicero speaks of effects drawn from the inversion of words) or by allegory, for which Quintilian gives it as the rendering of Ancient Greek ἀλληγορία (allēgoría).^[2][4] Quintilian also uses it for the reversal of the usual order of words, which the Greeks call ἀναστροφή (anastrophḗ), as quoque ego for ego quoque.^[2][4]

The TLL notes that it could mean both the act of inverting and the inverted state.^[3] Medieval writers kept both senses: Gervase of Melkley uses it of a transposition of vowels that changes the meaning, and a Leiden glossary explains allegory as inversio.^[5] English borrowed it in the 1550s as inversion.^[6]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of irony.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of effects drawn from the inversion of words.^[2][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for allegory and for the reversal of word order.^[2][4]
• 1550s – English borrows it as inversion.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A reversal of order, transposition (of words), anastrophe.^[2][4]
2. (rhetoric) Saying something other than what the words state: irony, allegory.^[2][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) A change of order, inversion.^[5]

Related words

• invertō
• English inversion

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de