Etymologically
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regulo

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Forms

rēgulō (present infinitive rēgulāre, perfect active rēgulāvī, supine rēgulātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rēgula (“rule, ruler”), a verb formed on the noun.[2][3][4] A deponent rēgulor is also recorded by the grammarian Charisius.[2][5] The TLL notes Romance outcomes such as central Sardinian ⟨(ar)reulare⟩.[2] It is the source, through the past participle, of English regulate.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Caelius Aurelianus, who writes that the strength of remedies is regulated or directed by the kind of disease, not by the nature of the affected part.[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant to order, direct or lay down by rule:[2] an old Latin version of conciliar acts uses it for the fathers' ruling that Egypt should follow the archbishop of Alexandria, translating Greek κανονίζω (kanonízō).[2] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for “rule, govern, regulate, control”.[8]

Timeline

  • 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the force of remedies.[2][7]
  • Late Latin – A version of conciliar acts uses it for a synodal ruling.[2]
  • early 15th century – English regulate is formed from its past participle.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to direct, regulate, order by rule.[2][3][4]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) to rule, govern, control.[8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson