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itero

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word itero

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*(h₁)i-tero-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin iterum
Latin itero

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪ.tɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈiː.te.ro][1]

Forms

iterō (present infinitive iterāre, perfect active iterāvī, supine iterātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin iterum (“again, a second time”) + -ō.[2][3][1] The TLL compares autumō from autem.[3] De Vaan traces iterum to Proto-Italic *itero- (“the other”) and Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)i-tero-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD find it in Plautus,[5][2] who has someone repeat things already heard and says “you were faithful, they keep saying you are unfaithful”.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

It means to do again or repeat an action, as Livy's battle-cry that the Romans repeated less eagerly, and to say again or repeat words, as Cicero's “to repeat the same point”.[2][6] It is also to recount or go over, and to renew an event, as Horace's warning that the fortune of Troy will be renewed with grim disaster.[2] In farming it means to plough land a second time, as Varro explains that after the first ploughing the clods must be broken; it is also to dye a second time, to traverse again, as Horace's “tomorrow we shall sail the vast sea again”, and in Gaius apparently to free a slave a second time.[2][6] Döderlein notes that iterum means a second time, rursus again.[7] Church Latin glosses it to repeat.[8] English iterate (1530s) is from its participle.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of repeating words.[2][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of ploughing a second time.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of repeating a point.[2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of renewing Troy's fate and sailing again.[2][5]
  • 1530s – English iterate is formed from its participle.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To do again, repeat; to renew.[2][6][8][1]
  2. To say again, reiterate; to repeat another's words; to recount.[2][6]
  3. (agriculture) To plough or hoe a second time.[2][6]
  4. To dye or apply a second time; to remake; to traverse again.[2]
  5. To multiply.[2]

Word family

  • iterabilis
  • iterātiō
  • iterātus
  • reitero

Usage notes

A rare iterō meaning to travel, from iter, appears in glosses, and late inscriptions have an adverb iterō, “a second time”.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Itero.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/itero. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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