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regressus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word regressus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*gʰredʰ-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin gradior
Latin praegredior
Latin congredior
Latin congressus
English congress
English congressman
Latin congressio
Latin progredior
Latin progressus
English progress
Latin regredior
Latin regressus
Latin gressus
Latin ingredior
Latin ingressus
Latin grassor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈɡrɛs.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈɡrɛs.sus][1]

Forms

regressus m (genitive regressūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin regredior (“to go back”) + -tus, a fourth-declension noun of action.[2][1] regredior is a compound of re- and gradior (“to step, walk”), which Wiktionary traces to Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ-.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Cicero,[3] who speaks in the De natura deorum of steady forward and backward movements kept through all eternity.[4]

Semantic evolution

In prose the TLL records it from Cicero, Livy and Vitruvius, and in verse only once in Virgil and then in Statius.[3] It is the act of going back or returning, as Columella has of goings out and comings back,[2] and in war a withdrawal, as Livy's troops whose retreat to their own bank was safer.[2] Virgil uses it of a way back, saying that Fortune allows none,[2][4] and Columella of land returning to its former state.[2] Tacitus has it of recourse to someone for redress.[2] In Medieval Latin it can be a way in, and in law a right of recovery.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the backward movement of heavenly bodies.[4][3][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of a military retreat.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of a way back from misfortune.[2][4][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of recourse to a ruler.[2][6]
  • Medieval Latin – A right of recovery.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A going back, return.[2][4][1]
  2. (military) A withdrawal, retreat.[2][7]
  3. A backward movement; the retrograde movement of heavenly bodies.[2][4]
  4. A retreat from a position or policy; a way back; a return to a former state.[2]
  5. Recourse to someone for help or redress.[2]
  6. (Medieval Latin) A way in;[5] (law) a right of recovery.[5]

Usage notes

The form is also the perfect participle of regredior, “having gone back”.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Regressus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/regressus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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