recolligo

Forms

recolligō (present infinitive recolligere, perfect active recollēgī, supine recollēctum); third conjugation^[1] Also spelled reconligō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + colligō¹ (“to gather, collect”).^[2][4][1] That verb is a compound of com- and legō² (“to gather”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-e/o- (“to collect”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short call it mostly post-Augustan.^[6] The OLD’s earliest citations are Ovid’s reflexive teque ipsa recolligis, “and you pull yourself together”, and the elder Seneca’s remark that it is hard to gather up a worn-down fortune again.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is gathering up again what has been scattered: Lucan has scattered fires gathered up again, and Justin a multitude roaming about and captives.^[6][3] It is used of getting back dispersed property, of regaining one’s strength after illness, and of recovering something in the mind;^[2] Pliny the Younger uses it of reconstructing a speech of his as best he could.^[2] With se or animum it means to pull oneself together, take heart.^[2][8] Ovid also speaks of recovering one’s early years.^[9] Through its past participle recollēctus it gave English recollect.^[10]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it reflexively for pulling oneself together.^[2][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of greed gathering up again what has been scattered.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of people who do not regain their strength after a long illness.^[2][7]
• 1550s – English borrows recollect from the past participle recollēctus.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To gather up again (what is scattered), to reassemble.^[2][6]
2. To get back (dispersed property).^[2]
3. To recover in the mind, recollect.^[2]
4. To regain (one’s strength); (reflexive) to recover.^[2]
5. (reflexive, or with animum) To pull oneself together, take heart.^[2][8]

Related words

• English recollect

Usage notes

A rare first-conjugation recolligō, -āre, “to tie back together”, made from re- and colligō², is found on a curse tablet from Carnuntum of the late 2nd century AD: recoligatis manibus, “with hands tied behind”.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com