reloco

Forms

relocō (present infinitive relocāre, perfect active relocāvī, supine relocātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin re- + locō (“to place; to let, hire out”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The jurist Javolenus (second half of the 1st century AD) uses it of letting a farm again: the lessor reserves the right to relet the land if it is not farmed according to the lease.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Ulpian uses it of a contract for work that may be let again if it is not finished by the agreed day.^[2] In the Latin Anthology it means to place again, of stones taken from a temple to be set into walls, and Augustine uses it of bringing a person back to where she belonged.^[2] Caelius Aurelianus has it for putting the tongue or a joint back in place.^[4]

Etymonline notes the Late Latin senses “bring back to its former place” and “let out again”;^[5] English relocate (1822) was formed in English.^[5]

Timeline

• second half of the 1st century AD – Javolenus uses it of reletting a farm.^[2][3]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of reletting a contract for work.^[2][3]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of bringing a person back.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To let again, relet (land, a contract for work).^[1][4][2]
2. To place again, set in position anew.^[2]
3. (Late Latin) To bring back to its former place;^[4][2] (medicine) to put back (the tongue, a joint).^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com