recursus

Forms

recursus m (genitive recursūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin recurrō (“to run back”) + -tus.^[1][2][3] recurrō is re- (“back”) with currō (“to run”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *korse/o- (“to run”) and Proto-Indo-European *krs-e/o- (“to run”); the nouns in ⟨curs-⟩ are built on the participle ⟨cursus⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it in verse from Virgil and Ovid on, often in the plural, and in prose from Livy and Valerius Maximus;^[2] Lewis & Short note it is not found before Augustus.^[5] Virgil pairs it with cursus: alios ineunt cursus aliosque recursus, they enter on other runs and other returns.^[1][5]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of running or going back, a withdrawal or a way back: Livy has a retreat left open.^[1][5] Virgil uses it of the ebb of the sea, and Pliny the Elder of the windings of the Maeander and of the passages of the labyrinth.^[1][5] Ovid prays that fate may grant a return.^[1][5] It is also a return to a former state: Celsus speaks of a return to good health, and Valerius Maximus of a return to former rank in the army.^[5][1] Seneca uses it of the reach of sight back to the eye.^[5]

In law it is a recourse to the judge from whom an appeal was made,^[5] and in Church law it is recourse, an appeal for review of a decree.^[6] Medieval Latin uses it for an appeal to a higher court and a right of recovery, and also for the right to drive pigs into a forest, a concourse of people, a cross-reference, and the exact weight of coins.^[7]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil, of running back and of the ebb of the sea.^[1][2][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of a way of retreat.^[1][5][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a return home.^[1][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of the windings of a river.^[1][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A running back, retreat, withdrawal; a way back.^[1][5]
2. The ebb of the sea; a winding back (of a river or path).^[1][5]
3. A return; a return to a former state.^[1][5]
4. (law) Recourse, appeal.^[5][6][7]
5. (Medieval Latin) The right to drive pigs into a forest; a concourse of people; a cross-reference; the exact weight of coins.^[7]

Related words

• recurrō
• currō
• cursus

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill