Etymologically
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regredior

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈɡrɛ.di.ɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈɡrɛː.di.or][1]

Forms

regredior (present infinitive regredī, perfect active regressus sum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, deponent[1] Nonius takes Ennius' regredere as an active infinitive, but it may be a second person singular.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + gradior (“to step, walk”).[2][1][3] De Vaan derives ⟨gradior⟩ from Proto-Italic *grad-(e)i- and Proto-Indo-European *g(h)rd(h)-(e)i-, cognate with Old Irish ingreinn (“chases”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is from Plautus: “go back there from the door”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to go or come back, and in war to withdraw: Cicero says someone preferred to be surrounded by the waves of war rather than either retreat or advance.[2] Plautus already uses it of going back in memory: “I go back in memory to having heard my father called Hegio”.[2] Cicero uses it of extending an edict into the past and of going back in a chain of causes without end, and of retreating from a claim: people should rather draw back than press forward.[2] In the jurists it is to have recourse to a previous owner, as a buyer against the seller, and to revert to former ownership.[2]

Church Latin has it for go back, return.[6] English regress (late 14th century) is from its participle regressus.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of going back, also in memory.[2][8]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of retreating and of going back in time.[2][8]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian of legal recourse.[2][8]
  • late 14th century – English regress.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go or come back, return.[2][5][1][6]
  2. (military) To withdraw, retreat.[2][1]
  3. To go back to a former state or in time; to draw back from a claim.[2]
  4. (law) To have recourse to a previous party; to revert.[2][1]

Word family

Usage notes

Lewis and Short give revertor and redeō as near-synonyms.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de