Etymologically
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reiecto

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Forms

rēiectō (present infinitive rēiectāre, perfect active rēiectāvī); first conjugation[1][2] Some manuscripts and late texts spell it reiactō.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin rēiciō (“to throw back”) + -tō, a frequentative.[1][4][5] The TLL notes that it could also be formed from ⟨re-⟩ and iactō (“to throw”), and that the manuscripts do not allow the two to be kept apart.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Lucretius: montēs … reiectant vōcēs ad sīdera mundī, “the mountains throw the voices back to the stars of the sky”.[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

It means to throw back, often with force or against one's will.[1][3] Silius Italicus uses it of foaming sea water thrown back,[4][7] and of a wolf that lets fall from its teeth the prey that is still breathing.[1][2] It also means to spit out: in a letter in Fronto's correspondence, Marcus Aurelius soothes his throat with honeyed water that he takes in and spits out,[1][7] and the Historia Augusta uses it of bringing up cheese.[6][4]

The TLL traces Italian rigettare, Sicilian ⟨arrijittari⟩ and Portuguese rejeitar to it.[3]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of mountains echoing voices.[3][2][8]
  • 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus uses it of water and of a wolf's prey.[1][2][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To throw back violently or repeatedly; to repulse, beat off.[1][2]
  2. To throw back (a sound), to echo.[9][6]
  3. To spit out, let fall (from the mouth); to vomit.[1][9][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
  8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.