Etymologically
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recolligo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈkɔl.lɪ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈkɔl.li.ɡo][1]

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]
  • 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