redux

Forms

redux (genitive reducis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1] Plautus scans it rēdux, and the spelling reddux is also found.^[2][3][4] The ablative is reduce or reducī.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + dux (“leader”),^[3] or from redūcō (“to lead back”), as dux is from dūcō.^[4][1] The TLL explains the variant spellings with ⟨rēd-⟩ and ⟨redd-⟩ from the influence of prōdūcō and reddō.^[4] De Vaan traces dūcō to Proto-Italic *douk-e- and Proto-Indo-European *deuk-e/o- (“to draw”), and notes that the zero grade of dux was taken from compounds.^[5] Cognate with Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (tiuhan, “to draw”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Naevius.^[6] It means one who has come back.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In the active sense, “that brings back home”, it is mostly an epithet of gods, especially Fortuna Redux, whose altar is recorded in the calendar of Cumae, and Jupiter.^[3][2][1] The passive sense, “brought back, returned”, from war, exile or captivity, is the frequent Classical one.^[2][1] Pliny the Elder uses it of elephants returning to the column, Seneca of the paths of return, and Statius of men restored to life.^[3] Church Latin glosses it “returned”.^[7] English uses it in titles since 1662, when Dryden wrote Astraea Redux on the restoration of Charles II.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of elephants returning.^[3][6]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius of men restored to life.^[3][6]
• 1662 – Dryden's Astraea Redux in English.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That brings back home, especially of Fortuna and Jupiter.^[3][2][1]
2. Coming back, returned, brought back, from war, exile or captivity.^[3][2][1][7]
3. Restored, as to life.^[3]

Word family

• irredux

Related words

• redūcō
• dux
• English redux

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com