rememoror

Forms

rememoror (present infinitive rememorārī, perfect active rememorātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- (“again”) + memoror (“to be mindful of, recall”),^[2][3][1][4] and memoror comes from memor (“mindful”).^[4] De Vaan treats the adjective with meminī “to remember”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Late Latin word,^[3] first found in Tertullian, who uses it with an indirect question, to call to mind what something was.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In the Vulgate it means to remember again or call to mind: the Letter to the Hebrews urges the reader to recall the former days, and a psalm says that they remembered that God was their helper.^[3][2] Isidore of Seville also uses it,^[3][8] and the early Latin Bible (the Itala) and the Passion of Perpetua have it with the genitive.^[6] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the sense “to remember”.^[9] Etymonline derives Old French remembrer, the source of English remember, from it,^[4] and Conte compares it with Italian rimembrare, which came through Old Occitan remembrar.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it with an indirect question.^[2][7]
• AD 390–406 – The Vulgate uses it in the Psalms and the Letter to the Hebrews.^[3][7]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it.^[3][7]
• mid-14th century – English remember appears, from Old French remembrer.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To remember again, call to mind, recollect.^[3][2][8]

Word family

• rememorātiō

Related words

• commemorō
• memoria
• English remember

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson