Etymologically
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refrico

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrɛ.frɪ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɛː.fri.ko][1]

Forms

refricō (present infinitive refricāre, perfect active refricuī, supine refricātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + fricō (“to rub, chafe”).[2][1] De Vaan lists fricō from Plautus on among the derivatives of friō (“to crumble”); he thinks the verb presupposes an adjective *fri-ko-, built on *frio-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰriH-o- (“cut”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in Cato's De agri cultura, in instructions that end refricato denuo, “rub it again”.[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it a favourite word of Cicero, rare elsewhere.[6] Cicero uses it of tearing open a wound again, in figurative phrases such as reopening a scar of the state that had already closed,[2][7] of reviving someone's grief or longing by speech or letter,[2][4] of renewing the memory of a deed,[2][6] and intransitively of an eye inflammation that keeps flaring up, crebro refricat lippitudo.[2][7] A Pompeian wall inscription uses it reflexively of sores becoming raw again.[2] Ovid writes of love renewed by a reminder,[2] Apuleius of renewed lamentations,[2] and Fronto of going over the same thought again and again.[2][7] The TLL records it in Caelius Aurelianus of a grief that brings back an illness.[8]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of rubbing a mass again.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of reopening wounds and reviving grief.[2][6][5]
  • 43 BC–AD 18 – Ovid uses it of love revived.[2][5]
  • 100–170 AD – Fronto uses it of repeating the same thought.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To rub again; to work over again.[2][7]
  2. To make a wound sore again, tear it open;[2][6] (reflexive or intransitive, of sores and inflammations) to become raw again, flare up.[2][6]
  3. (figurative) To revive grief, longing or a memory; to stir up the mind again.[2][6]
  • affricō
  • circumfricō
  • cōnfricō
  • dēfricō
  • fricō
  • īnfricō
  • perfricō

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 m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften