prorumpo

Forms

prōrumpō (present infinitive prōrumpere, perfect active prōrūpī, supine prōruptum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + rumpō (“to break, burst”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives ⟨rumpō⟩ from the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *Hru-n-p- (“to break”), cognate with Old English rēofan (“to break, tear”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest examples are from Lucretius, of the force of air that, unless it bursts out, is dispersed through the openings of the earth,^[2][5] and in Cicero, who says Antony suddenly “burst” into Brundisium.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to force one's way forward or rush out, of people, and of liquids and vapours that burst or gush forth; transitively it is to send forth, as Virgil's Etna that hurls a black cloud to the sky.^[2][6] Of news it is to come suddenly into the open.^[2] Tacitus uses it often of breaking out into an action or into speech, as a defendant who broke the silence, and Cicero of crime and audacity breaking out.^[2]

Church Latin has it for send forth, break forth.^[7]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of air bursting out.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of Antony bursting into Brundisium.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of Etna hurling forth a cloud.^[2][6][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of breaking out into speech or action.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To burst or rush forth, force one's way out.^[2][6][1][7]
2. Of liquids or vapours, to burst or gush out;^[2][6] (transitive) to send forth, emit.^[2][6]
3. Of news, to come out suddenly.^[2]
4. To break out into an action, into speech or into passion.^[2]

Word family

• proruptio
• proruptor

Related words

• rumpō
• ērumpō
• irrumpō

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. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson