Etymologically
Log in

renascor

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word renascor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
234–149 BC, Cato
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ǵn̥h₁-sk-e/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nascor
Latin innascor
Latin natura
English nature
French nature
French naturel
French naturellement
Latin natio
English nation
English national
English international
Latin renascor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈnaːs.kɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈnas.kor][1]

Forms

renāscor (present infinitive renāscī, perfect active renātus sum); third conjugation, deponent[1] An inscription from Pompeii has regnatus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + nāscor (“to be born”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces nāscor to Proto-Italic *gnāsk-e/o- (“to be born”) and Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁-sk-e/o- (“to be born”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato uses it of plants: what you pick by hand will grow again, what you cut with a sickle will not.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Varro has it of teeth that grow again, and of the rebirth of people that the Greeks call palingenesis.[2] Cicero argues that a first principle, once extinguished, would not be reborn, and writes that people wonder at the renewed war.[2] Ovid uses it of a river that disappears and comes up again from another mouth, and Martial of temples rebuilt.[2] Lucretius has things reborn from nothing.[6] In the Vulgate it is spiritual rebirth: unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.[6][7]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of plants growing again.[2][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of rebirth and of teeth.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a renewed war.[2][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of being born again in spirit.[6][7][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be reborn, born again; of things, to be created anew; of buildings, to be rebuilt.[2][6][1]
  2. To grow again, of plants and parts of the body.[2][6]
  3. To come back into existence; of practices and conditions, to be revived.[2][1]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To be born again spiritually, be regenerated.[7][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Renascor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/renascor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·