reicio

Forms

reiciō (present infinitive reicere, perfect active reiēcī, supine reiectum); third (-iō variant) conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin re- (“back”) + iaciō (“to throw”).^[2][1] De Vaan derives iaciō from Proto-Italic *jaki- and the root Proto-Indo-European *(H)ieh₁- (“to throw, let go”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, throw”).^[3] The TLL explains the spelling: the single ⟨i⟩ between vowels was taken for a double consonant, so the first syllable counted as long, ⟨rēiciō⟩.^[4] Terence and Virgil also scan the first two syllables as one.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Persa: a slave fears that he cannot drive the oxen back into the stall to keep them from straying (in bubīle rēicere).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is throwing or driving something back where it came from: a contrary wind drives a ship back to port (Cicero), and Horace has Hannibal's threats turned back on himself.^[2] It also means driving away or repelling an attack, as Virgil's shepherd drives the goats back from the river, and throwing something behind one, especially a garment, or slinging the shield over the back.^[2] In the courts it is to reject a juror (Cicero), and generally to reject, refuse or scorn a thing or a person.^[5][1] Lastly it is to refer a matter to someone else and to postpone it.^[5][1]

Church Latin glosses it “throw back, reject, repel, cast away”.^[6] English reject comes from the frequentative ⟨rēiectō⟩ and the participle ⟨rēiectus⟩.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of driving oxen back to the stall.^[2][8]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of deterring someone from study.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a ship driven back by a storm.^[2][8]
• early 15th century – English reject, from the participle.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To throw, drive or cast back.^[2][1][6]
2. To drive away, repel (an attack); to deter.^[2][1]
3. To throw behind one or out of the way (a garment, a shield).^[2]
4. (law) To challenge, reject (a juror).^[5]
5. To reject, refuse, scorn.^[5][1][6]
6. To refer (to someone); to postpone.^[5][1]

Word family

• reiculus
• rēiecta
• reiectaneus
• reiectiō
• rēiectō

Related words

• abiciō
• adiciō
• circumiciō
• coniciō
• dēiciō
• disiciō
• ēiciō
• iaciō
• iniciō
• intericiō
• English reject

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de