recrudesco

Forms

recrūdēscō (present infinitive recrūdēscere, perfect active recrūduī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + crūdēscō (“to become raw”).^[2][3][4] That verb is formed on crūdus (“raw”), which de Vaan reconstructs, with a question mark, as Proto-Italic *krowoþo- from Proto-Indo-European *kreuh₂-odʰ-o- (“raw”), comparing cruor (“blood”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cicero, in a letter written after the death of his daughter: by so grave a wound even the wounds that seemed healed break open again, recrūdēscunt.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Literally it is used of wounds that become raw again;^[2][6] Curtius has a festering pain that flares up.^[2][6] Figuratively it meant to break out again: Livy uses it of the sedition of Manlius and of a battle that flared up for a while, and Seneca of ambition that revives in retirement and of a crime that clings and breaks out again.^[2][6] In Christian Latin Cyprian writes of discord growing worse and Jerome of sin breaking out again.^[6] Manuscripts of Cyprian confuse it with crūdēscere, and medieval manuscripts spell it with ⟨-disc-⟩.^[3]

Conte derives Italian recrudescenza from French recrudescence, formed on this verb.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of wounds that break open again.^[2][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a sedition and a battle breaking out again.^[2][8]
• 1st century AD – Curtius uses it of a festering pain.^[2][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of ambition reviving.^[2][8]
• beginning of 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian uses it of discord growing worse.^[6][8]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of sin breaking out again.^[6][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of wounds) To become raw again, reopen.^[2][9][7]
2. (figurative) To break out again, recrudesce.^[2][9][6]

Word family

• recrūdēscentia

Related words

• crūdus
• English recrudescence

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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 d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press