recessus

Forms

recessus m (genitive recessūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

The noun is from Latin recēdō (“to go back, withdraw”) + -tus.^[2][3][4] De Vaan follows Lubotsky in tracing cēdō to Proto-Italic *kesd-e/o- (“to go away, avoid”) and Proto-Indo-European *ḱiesdʰ- (“to drive away; go away”), comparing Sanskrit सेधति (sedhati, “drives away”); he rejects an old explanation from ⟨*ke⟩ and the root meaning to sit.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[6] In the OLD's earliest quotation Cicero writes that nature gave animals approach to what is wholesome and withdrawal from what is harmful.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is going back, retreat, withdrawal, often opposed to ⟨accessus⟩: Cicero has the moon's approach and withdrawal.^[2][7] Figuratively it is withdrawal from an activity, as Cicero's cautious advance and retreat in a case.^[2] It is also distance or seclusion, an inward depth, and in Vitruvius a recessed arrangement.^[2] Above all it is a receding part, a recess: Virgil has a cave set far back, Velleius the inlets of the sea, and Ovid a grotto at the farthest end of a valley.^[2] It is a secluded place, a haunt or refuge: Livy has birds of summer seeking shelter in autumn.^[2] Church Latin glosses it retirement, withdrawal, and a secret or mystery.^[8] Niermeyer records medieval senses decease and a resolution passed as a meeting breaks up.^[9] In New Latin anatomy it is a recess.^[1] English recess comes from it, from the 1530s, first meaning a going back.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of withdrawal from what is harmful.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a deep cave.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a refuge for birds.^[2][6]
• 1530s – English recess.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A going back, retreat, withdrawal.^[2][7][1][8]
2. Distance, seclusion; depth; a recessed arrangement.^[2]
3. A recess, nook; an inlet of the sea; a remote part.^[2][7][1]
4. A secluded place, haunt, refuge.^[2][1]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A secret, mystery.^[8]
6. (Medieval Latin) Decease; a resolution passed at the close of a meeting.^[9]

Related words

• recēdō

Usage notes

The OLD also has a participial adjective recessus, set back, extending backwards, from recēdō.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill