Etymologically
Log in

recedo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 21:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
← Previous version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈkeː.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈt͡ʃɛː.do][1]

Forms

recēdō (present infinitive recēdere, perfect active recessī, supine recessum); third conjugation[1] Plautus has the short form recesset for recessisset.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin re- (“back”) + cēdō (“to go, withdraw”).[2][3][1] De Vaan derives cēdō from Proto-Italic *kesd-e/o- (“to go away, avoid”), and, following Lubotsky, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱiesdʰ- (“to drive away; go away”), cognate with Sanskrit सेधति (sédhati, “drives away”); he rejects the older explanation from ⟨*ke⟩ “here” and the root of “to sit”, and takes “to give way” to be the first meaning.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has pōne nōs recēde, “step back behind us”, and ego recesserō, “I shall draw back”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Recēdere is “to draw back, withdraw” from a place or a person, and of things “to move back, recede” (Ennius: sōl albus recessit in īnfera noctis, “the white sun withdrew into the depths of night”, Virgil: flammaeque recēdunt, “the flames give way”).[2][3] Of places it is “to stretch back” and of heavenly bodies “to dwindle”; of joined things “to come away”.[2] Of feelings and conditions it is “to pass away, vanish” (Cato: labor ille ā vōbīs cito recēdet, “that toil will soon leave you”), and of property “to pass out of one's hands”.[2][1]

Of persons it is to withdraw from an occupation, attitude or agreement, from someone's company, or from a subject in speaking, and to depart from what is usual or right.[2][1] Church Latin glosses it “to fall away, stray, depart, forsake”.[5] English recede comes from it, partly through Old French, in the early 15th century.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: pōne nōs recēde.[2][7]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: sōl albus recessit.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the planets moving away.[2][7]
  • early 15th century – English recede.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To draw back, withdraw, retire.[2][3][1][5]
  2. To move back, recede (of things);[2][3] to stretch back (of places).[2]
  3. To dwindle (of heavenly bodies);[2] to come away, become detached.[2][1]
  4. To pass away, vanish (of feelings or conditions); to pass out of one's hands.[2][1]
  5. To withdraw (from an occupation, agreement or company), give up.[2][1][5]
  6. To digress (from a topic).[2]
  7. To depart (from what is usual or right), deviate.[2][5]

Word family

  • recessim
  • recessiō
  • recessus
  • recessīvus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de