recipero

Forms

reciperō (present infinitive reciperāre, perfect active reciperāvī, supine reciperātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelled recuperō.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from recipiō (“to take back”), comparing tolerō for the ending;^[2] Wiktionary also gives ⟨recipiō⟩.^[1] De Vaan treats it under capiō (“to take, seize”) and explains ⟨recuperāre⟩ as ⟨*-kapizā-⟩, with a suffix ⟨*-sā-⟩ added to the present stem ⟨*kap-i-⟩.^[5] He derives ⟨capiō⟩ from Proto-Italic *kap-i-, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i- (“to seize”), cognate with Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”) and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍆𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hafjan, “to lift”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD date it from Cicero,^[6] who speaks of a man trying to recover some of his own property.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to recover or get back money and goods, people such as prisoners and estranged friends, territory, and abstract things: Cicero asks whether the senate wished to recover Roman prisoners from Carthage by returning theirs, and speaks of Asia recovered after the consulship of Sulla and Pompeius.^[2] Varro uses it of recovering the oblique cases from the nominative by reasoning.^[2] It is also to restore or revive, as a wife who will restore an old man's strength by nursing him, and rem pūblicam reciperāre, to restore the Republic.^[2]

Church Latin has it for restore, recover, revive.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of recovering goods, prisoners, provinces and the Republic.^[2][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of recovering grammatical forms.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy of recovering hostages.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To recover, regain, get back: property, persons, territory or abstract things.^[2][3][1][4]
2. To restore, revive;^[2][1][4] rem pūblicam reciperāre, to restore the Republic.^[2][1][4]

Word family

• reciperātiō
• reciperātīuus
• reciperātor
• reciperātōrius

Related words

• recipiō
• capiō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b 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