recidivus

Forms

recidīvus (feminine recidīva, neuter recidīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] A form ⟨recidŭus⟩ also occurs, and manuscripts often confuse the word with redivīvus.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin recidō¹ (“to fall back”) + -īvus.^[3][1][2] De Vaan lists ⟨recidere⟩ among the compounds of cadō (“to fall”).^[4] The ancients were divided: some derived it from falling, others from cutting (caedō (“to cut”)), and Servius' fuller commentary speaks of trees that sprout again after being cut.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it in verse from Virgil on and in prose from Celsus and Mela on;^[2] the first instance is recidiva Pergama, a Pergamum reborn, in the Aeneid.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is “falling back”, used by Mela of seeds that fall back into the soil and renew the crop.^[3][6] The TLL observes that, though by its origin it should refer to falling, it almost always describes things that rise again after a fall, recur or are renewed.^[2] Celsus and Pliny the Elder use it of a recurring fever,^[7][8] Juvenal applies it to money,^[7] and Silius Italicus calls the Romans the reborn race of the Phrygians.^[8] Charisius distinguishes rediviva, things that return after their destruction, from recidiva, things restored after their fall.^[2] Tertullian uses de recidivo for “anew”.^[9]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means recurring and falling back into the same sin,^[10] and British medieval writers use it of things that recur, such as a storm, an illness or a dispute.^[11] It continues in Italian recidivo.^[6]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of a reborn Troy, recidiva Pergama.^[3][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a recurring fever.^[7][5]
• 43/44 AD – Mela uses it of seeds that fall back into the soil.^[3][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses de recidivo for “anew”.^[9][5]
• 1173 – John of Salisbury fears a renewed storm, recidivam tempestatem.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of seeds) Falling back into the soil.^[3][6]
2. Renascent, recurring;^[3][7][8] (of illness) returning, relapsing.^[3][7][8]
3. (poetic) Restored, rebuilt, reborn.^[7][8]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Falling back into the same sin.^[10]

Word family

• recidīvātus

Related words

• recidō¹
• redivīvus
• cadō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press