refundo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [rɛˈfʊn.doː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [reˈfun.do]^[1]

Forms

refundō (present infinitive refundere, perfect active refūdī, supine refūsum); third conjugation, third person-only in the passive^[1]

Etymology

It is from re- “back” and fundō “to pour”.^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot's earliest citation is from Cicero, of vapours poured back, and the OLD's from Virgil.^[5][2][6] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[7]

Semantic evolution

It meant to pour back, cause to flow back, as Virgil's sea beaten back, in the passive of rivers to overflow, flood, and of an action to recoil on someone.^[2][5] Lewis and Short call it mostly poetic and post-Augustan.^[2][6][5] In Celsus it meant to sink back, and to extend away, and in Pliny the Elder to melt, thaw.^[2] In Ulpian it meant to give back, restore, refund.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to pour out, pour back, restore.^[8] Old French refunder and the Latin gave English refund in the early 15th century, first “to pass on”, and earlier “to pour back”.^[4] Wiktionary also lists English refuse among its descendants.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of vapours poured back.^[5][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a flood.^[2][7]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of refunding.^[2][7]
• early 15th century – English refund is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pour back; to flood; to recoil on.^[2]
2. To sink back; to extend away.^[2]
3. To melt, thaw.^[2]
4. To give back, refund.^[2]

Word family

• refusio
• refusorius

Related words

• fundō
• English refund

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson