proruo

Forms

prōruō (present infinitive prōruere, perfect active prōruī, supine prōrutum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + ruō (“to rush; to fall”).^[2][3] De Vaan lists it under ruō (“to rush”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *rowe/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃reu-e/o- (“to run, hurry”), comparing Ancient Greek ὀρούω (oroúō, “to hurry”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,^[4] who uses it of grain that can easily be thrust forward onto the threshing floor.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Transitively it is to hurl or thrust forward, and to make something fall forward or collapse: Caesar has fortifications pulled down and a rampart thrown down.^[2][5] Horace uses it of the Roman people overthrowing a victor.^[2] Intransitively it is to rush forward, as of troops in Frontinus, and to collapse: Vitruvius has monuments falling down when their rubble has lost its moisture.^[2] Glosses explain it as falling and as driving out.^[3]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of grain thrust forward.^[2][4][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of fortifications pulled down.^[2][5][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of overthrowing a victor.^[2][6]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of collapsing monuments.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hurl or thrust forward.^[2]
2. To rush forward; to fall upon an enemy.^[2][1]
3. To pull down, demolish, overturn; to overthrow.^[2][5][1]
4. To fall forward, collapse, tumble down.^[2]

Related words

• ruō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de