Etymologically
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recenseo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈkẽː.se.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈt͡ʃɛn.se.o][1]

Forms

recēnseō (present infinitive recēnsēre, perfect active recēnsuī, supine recēnsum); second conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + cēnseō (“to assess, estimate”).[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Caesar writes of forces counted and reviewed in the territory of the Aedui.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is to count, enumerate or survey: Livy has prisoners counted by their peoples, Virgil a whole troop or flock numbered, and the Vulgate Saul counting the people.[2][4] Lewis & Short call it classical but not in Cicero.[4] Above all it is to review troops, and of a censor to review the roll, as Livy's knights.[2][4] Figuratively it is to pass in review, enumerate in the mind, in speech or in writing: Livy asks whether he should list the Roman generals.[2][4] Ovid uses it of the sun passing through its signs.[4] Besides recēnsus there is a participle recēnsītus, in Suetonius, Claudian and Prudentius.[4] Church Latin also uses it of recalling, examining and celebrating.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of reviewing forces.[4][2]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of counting a flock.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of censors and generals.[2][4]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of Saul counting the people.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To count, enumerate, survey; to review troops; of a censor, to review the roll.[2][4][1][5]
  2. To pass in review, recount; to revise, examine.[2][4][1][5]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To recall; to celebrate.[5]

Word family

  • recēnsiō
  • recensitiō
  • recensus
  • recēnsītus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson