reciprocus

Forms

reciprocus (feminine reciproca, neuter reciprocum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Proto-Italic *re-kwe *pro-kwe (“both backwards and forwards”), a phrase made of re- (“back”) and prō (“forwards”), each followed by ⟨-que⟩ “and”, which became an adjective; this is Dunkel's explanation, which de Vaan reports, and the TLL and Lewis and Short also start from a phrase ⟨*reque proque⟩.^[2][3][4][1] In de Vaan's account the first /kʷ/ lost its rounding before the following labials, and the result did not become ⟨*recupricus⟩ because its two parts were long felt as separate words.^[2] He traces the prefix to Proto-Indo-European *ure (“back”), following Klingenschmitt.^[2] The OLD and Etymonline give the same analysis as ⟨*reco-proco-⟩.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Accius,^[2] who writes of arrows drawn back on a horsehair bowstring;^[5][3] Varro, quoting the line, explains that a thing is reciprocus when it returns to where it came from.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of poetry and of prose after Augustus.^[4] Seneca uses it of waves surging back and forth and of the sea with its alternating tides, Pliny the Elder of echoing voices, and Apuleius of retracing one's steps.^[5] Apuleius also uses it of the ups and downs of fortune.^[5] In Gellius it means mutual, applying to both sides equally, and is used of convertible arguments and of verbs with both active and passive meaning.^[5] Stelten gives “returning, receding, alternating, reciprocal”.^[7] English reciprocal was formed from it.^[6]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius writes of arrows drawn back.^[5][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro explains the word.^[3][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of waves and tides.^[5][8]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of the changes of fortune.^[5][8]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of things that apply to both sides.^[5][8]
• 1570s – English reciprocal is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Moving backwards and forwards; of the sea, ebbing and flowing with the tides.^[5][4]
2. Going back the way it came, moving in the opposite direction; of sounds, echoing.^[5][4]
3. Marked by alternations of fortune.^[5]
4. Affecting both sides equally, mutual, reciprocal.^[5][7]
5. (grammar, logic) Of arguments, convertible; of verbs, having both active and passive meaning.^[5]

Word family

• reciprocicornis
• reciprocō

Related words

• English reciprocal

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de