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redintegro

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word redintegro

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
116–27 BC, Varro
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*th₂-n-g-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin integro
Latin redintegro

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈdɪn.tɛ.ɡroː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈdin.te.ɡro][1]

Forms

redintegrō (present infinitive redintegrāre, perfect active redintegrāvī, supine redintegrātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin red- + integrō (“to renew, restore”).[2][1][3] That verb comes from integer (“untouched, whole”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *ntagro- (“untouched”), from the root of tangō, Proto-Indo-European *th₂-n-g- (“to touch”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro writes of driving sheep to water so that, refreshed, they return to pasture more eagerly.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to make whole again: to restore or refresh the body, to replenish, as Caesar's making good of reduced forces, and to revive powers, as the memory in Cicero's early rhetoric.[2] It is to revive or renew actions and conditions, as Livy's peace renewed, and thoughts and feelings, as the enemy's renewed hope of victory in Caesar.[2] The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of repeating a speech in full.[2] Lewis & Short call it good prose, with the synonyms renovō, restaurō and recreō.[5] Church Latin glosses it to restore, raise up.[6]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of refreshed sheep.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of reviving the memory.[2]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of replenished forces and renewed hope.[2][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a renewed peace.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make whole again, restore, refresh; to replenish.[2][5][1][6]
  2. To renew, revive (actions, feelings).[2][1]
  3. To repeat in full.[2]

Word family

  • redintegrātiō
  • redintegrātor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Redintegro.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/redintegro. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·