Etymologically
Log in

recoquo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 20:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrɛ.kɔ.kʷoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɛː.ko.kʷo][1]

Forms

recoquō (present infinitive recoquere, perfect active recoxī, supine recoctum); third conjugation[1] A manuscript of Virgil has the spelling ⟨requoquont⟩ for ⟨recoquunt⟩.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- (“again”) + coquō (“to cook”).[4][3][1] coquō goes back to Proto-Italic *kʷekʷe/o- (“to cook”) and Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ-e/o- (“to cook”).[5] Cognate with Sanskrit पचन्ति (pácanti, “they cook”), Ancient Greek πέσσω (péssō, “to cook”) and Lithuanian kèpti (“to bake”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero's dialogue on old age has the speaker say that no one would easily boil him young again as Pelias was boiled;[4][6] Catullus in the same period calls an old man recoctus, boiled young again.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to cook again so as to renew or rework something, with the story of Pelias in the background:[4][2] Valerius Flaccus uses it of parents worn out by age.[7] Horace jokes about a scribe recast from a minor official, and Petronius has an old woman soaked in wine.[4][6] Quintilian writes that Cicero handed himself over to Apollonius Molo to be shaped and, as it were, recast.[4][7] In practical use Seneca has wool boiled again in the dye, Pliny the Elder wax and medicines boiled down again, Statius raisin wine, and Martial a lump smoked in the Velabrum.[4][7]

It also meant to heat again or melt down, especially metal:[4][7] Virgil has men recasting their fathers' swords in furnaces and greaves of refined electrum and gold, and Florus slaves who made swords and spears from the iron of their prisons.[4][6] Pliny the Elder uses it of charcoal and of copper that is fired again.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of boiling a man young again, like Pelias.[4][8]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus calls an old man recoctus.[4][8]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of recasting swords.[4][8]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of wool boiled in dye.[4][8]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of Cicero's training.[4][8]
  • c. 120 AD – Florus uses it of slaves forging weapons.[4][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cook or boil again, so as to renew or rework; to rehash.[4][7]
  2. (figurative, alluding to Pelias) To make young again; to recast, remould.[4][2]
  3. To heat again; to melt down, recast (metal).[4][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de