Etymologically
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remeo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrɛ.me.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɛː.me.o][1]

Forms

remeō (present infinitive remeāre, perfect active remeāvī, supine remeātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + meō (“to go, pass”).[2][3] De Vaan derives ⟨meō⟩ from Proto-Italic *mejo-, perhaps a verb formed on a noun Proto-Indo-European *h2mei-o- (“change, movement”), with a shift of meaning from “change” to “change places” and “go on”; cognate with Ancient Greek ἀμείβω (ameíbō, “to exchange”) and Old Church Slavonic мѣна (měna, “exchange”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] whose Epidicus has “I'll go back inside so that the guests are looked after”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It means “to go or come back, return”, to one's home or former place.[2][4] Lewis and Short note that it is not frequent until after the Augustan period, occurs once in Cicero and never in Caesar.[4] Cicero's one use is of air that would no longer return once moisture was used up;[2] Mela uses it of the winding paths of the labyrinth, and Horace of a lifetime coming round again.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “go or come back, return”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of going back inside.[2][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of returning air.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a lifetime returning.[2][6]
  • 43/44 AD – Mela of the labyrinth's paths.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go or come back, return.[2][4][1][5]
  2. Of things, to move back; of water, to recede; of seasons, to come round again.[2]

Word family

  • remeābilis
  • remeāculum
  • remeatus

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de