Etymologically
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recrudesco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛ.kruːˈdeːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [re.kruˈdɛs.ko][1]

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

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