refreno

Forms

refrēnō (present infinitive refrēnāre, perfect active refrēnāvī, supine refrēnātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + frēnō (“to bridle”), a verb from frēnum (“bridle”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan traces frēnum to Proto-Italic *frēno- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰr-eh₁-no- (“holding”), linking it with frētus (“relying on”).^[5] He finds Ernout and Meillet's derivation from the root of frendō (“to gnash”), as what horses chew on, possible but not straightforward.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro.^[5][6] In his Menippean satires laughter is held back.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense, to rein in a horse, is in Curtius.^[2][7] More often it is to hold back or curb things that move: Lucretius has the will reining in matter throughout the limbs, and Nepos checking an attack.^[2] Cicero writes that youth must be curbed and restrained by everyone's efforts.^[2] The elder Seneca has the spelling ⟨refraen-⟩,^[2] and Lucretius scans the first syllable short five times.^[3] Church Latin glosses it to check, restrain, refrain.^[8] English refrain comes from it through Old French, from the mid-14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of holding back laughter.^[2][5][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the will reining in matter.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of curbing youth.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Curtius of reining in horses.^[2][6]
• mid-14th century – English refrain.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To rein in a horse.^[2][7]
2. To hold back, curb, check, restrain.^[2][7][1][8]

Word family

• refrēnātiō
• refrēnus

Related words

• frēnum
• frēnō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson