rebito

Forms

rebītō (present infinitive rebītere); third conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + bītō (“to go”).^[1][3][4] De Vaan takes baetō as the original form of the simple verb, which sometimes became ⟨bētō⟩, while ⟨-bītō⟩ was regular in compounds; the simple ⟨bītō⟩ of Plautus is then extracted from them.^[4] He finds no good etymology; a possible cognate is Umbrian ebetraf, perhaps “city border”, if it is from a word for “exit”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Plautus,^[4][3] all in the Captivi, in the sense “go back, return”: si non rebitas huc (“if you don't come back here”).^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it ante-classical,^[5] and the dictionaries cite it only from four lines of the Captivi.^[6][3] The TLL adds a verse inscription from Regensburg, which it dates, with a query, to the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it four times in the Captivi.^[3][6][7]
• late 2nd or early 3rd century AD – A verse inscription from Regensburg has the participle rebitens.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go back, return.^[1][5][2]

Usage notes

It is a synonym of redeō, which one manuscript has in its place.^[3][6]

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de