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occurso

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word occurso

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*kr̥s-e/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin occurro
English occur
Latin occursus
Latin occurso

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔkˈkʊr.soː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [okˈkur.so][1]

Forms

occursō (present infinitive occursāre, perfect active occursāvī, supine occursātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled obc-;[2] a deponent occursor occurs too.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin occurrō (“to run to meet”) + -tō, a frequentative.[2][3][4] occurrō is a compound of currō (“to run”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *korse/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kr̥s-e/o- (“to run”).[5] De Vaan notes that compounds in ⟨-currō⟩ often have a figurative sense, while the more recent ones in ⟨-cursō⟩ always mean running.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Plautus on, twice, then once in Cato and in Lucretius.[3] Plautus asks why someone keeps running up to this house whenever they come to town.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to run up again and again or in numbers, to keep approaching, and of troops to make frequent sallies, as Livy's Gauls on the bank.[2] With a dative it is to get in the way, to block: Sallust has others killed as they ran to meet them, Virgil warns against meeting the he-goat, and Tacitus has someone blocking those in flight.[4][2] Things can be obstacles too, as the rocks among which Pliny the Elder's Nile is said to rush.[2] In Pliny the Younger it is to meet the eye, or to crowd into the mind; he also tells Caesar that it is a noble thing to go and meet fortune.[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of things simply occurring.[2] Lewis & Short note that it is not used by Cicero.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of running up again and again.[2][3][6]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of people running to meet others.[4][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of sallies by the Gauls.[2][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of blocking those in flight.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To run up repeatedly or in numbers; to go to meet; of troops, to make sallies.[2][4][1]
  2. To get in the way, block, obstruct; to be an obstacle.[2][4]
  3. To meet the eye; to occur to the mind.[2][1]
  4. Of things, to occur, be found.[2]

Word family

  • occursāculum
  • occursātiō
  • occursātor
  • occursātrix
  • occursiō
  • occursor
  • occursus
  • occursitō

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 d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Occurso.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/occurso. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·