mutuo

Forms

mūtuō (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mūtuus (“reciprocal, borrowed”) + -ō, an adverb from the ablative of the adjective.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces mūtuus to Proto-Italic *moito- (“(object of) exchange”), whose further origin is disputed.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Georges find it first in Cicero,^[5][3] who has it of the tides of the sea, coming in and going out by turns.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It appears in the letters to Cicero from Lepidus and Plancus, of mutual zeal and goodwill and of returning another's affection.^[2][6] Quintus Curtius uses it in the sense of jointly or alike,^[2] and Suetonius and Apuleius have it of exchanged services and mutual accusations.^[7] Döderlein distinguishes it from invicem: both mean reciprocally, but invicem refers rather to actions done in turn and mūtuō to mutual states.^[8]

Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for mutually, to one another, in return.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the tides.^[3][5]
• 1st century AD – Quintus Curtius uses it in the sense of jointly.^[2][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of exchanged services.^[7][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Mutually, reciprocally.^[2][10]
2. In return.^[2][9]
3. Jointly, alike.^[2]

Related words

• mūtuus
• mūtuor

Usage notes

The OLD and the dictionaries list beside it a verb mūtuō “to borrow”, an active form of mūtuor found in Caecilius and in Pliny the Elder, who has the moon shine with light borrowed from the sun.^[2][3][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press