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refello

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word refello

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
190–159 BC, Terence
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*sgʷʰh₂(e)l-n-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fallo
Latin refello

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈfɛl.loː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈfɛl.lo][1]

Forms

refellō (present infinitive refellere, perfect active refellī); third conjugation, no supine stem[1] The Notae Tironianae have the perfect refefellit and a present refallit.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- (“back”) + fallō (“to deceive”), as if to show something to be false.[3][2][4][1] Servius and Priscian already derived it from fallō.[2] De Vaan traces fallō to Proto-Italic *fal-s-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *sgʷʰh₂(e)l-n- (“to stumble”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Terence's Phormio: “since you rebut none of this, I shall win”.[3] Lewis & Short quote the same play: “if it was false, why did the son not refute it?”[4]

Semantic evolution

It means to refute or rebut an assertion or charge, as the Rhetorica ad Herennium refutes childish opinions with the soundest reasons and Cicero says all such catches are refuted the same way.[3] It is also to refute a person, as Cicero's “if I had refuted you”, and Lucretius' senses that cannot be refuted.[3] Döderlein notes that it is refutation on good grounds and by convincing argument, unlike refūtō and cōnfūtō.[6] Church Latin glosses it disprove, refute, rebut.[7]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of rebutting a charge.[3][8]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of refuting a person.[3][8]
  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of refuting opinions.[3][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of refuting arguments and persons.[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To refute, rebut, disprove an assertion or charge.[3][4][1]
  2. To refute a person; to show to be wrong.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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 f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Refello.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/refello. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·