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reno

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word reno

reno1 swim back

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
65–8 BC, Horace
Ultimate origin
Latin nō
Etymology tree of reno1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin no
Latin reno
From the same root · reno1
Latin adno ← no
Latin eno ← no
Latin inno ← no
Latin trano ← no

Forms

renō (present infinitive renāre, perfect active renāvī); first conjugation, intransitive[1]

Etymology

The verb “swim back” is formed from Latin re- + nō (“to swim”).[1][2][3] De Vaan traces nō to Proto-Italic *(s)nāje/o- (“to swim”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to swim, float”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Horace's Epodes (16.25), in an oath not to return until rocks, raised from the depths, float back to the surface;[2][5] the commentator Porphyrio explains the oath as never to return, since rocks will never float.[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call the verb very rare.[5] Besides the Horace passage, the TLL records it in the Epicedion Drusi (432), where no shade has swum back across the Stygian waters.[2] A participle ⟨renatus⟩ printed by older editors in Augustine's City of God is, according to the TLL, a false reading.[2]

Timeline

  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of rocks floating back up from the sea bed.[2][5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To swim back.[1][5]
  2. (of things) To float back up, rise again to the surface.[5][7][8]

reno2 fur garment

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
116–27 BC, Varro
Borrowed from
Germanic

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈreː.noː][9]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɛː.no][9]

Forms

rēnō m (genitive rēnōnis); third declension[9] Manuscripts of Caesar and Sidonius also spell it rhēnō.[2][10]

Etymology

The fur garment is apparently borrowed from Germanic, according to the OLD, which compares Irish rōin and Welsh rhawn.[1] The TLL also takes it as a Germanic word, for a garment made of lamb's fleece, from a word meaning “sheep, ram, lamb”, the initial /w/ being dropped in Latin.[2] Köbler refers it to Proto-Indo-European *u̯ₑren- (“ram, sheep, lamb”) and likewise takes it as a Germanic loan.[6] Lewis and Short and Georges call it a Celtic word,[5][7] and Wiktionary gives it a Celtic origin;[9] Varro already counted it among Gallic garments.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro, in the De lingua Latina (5.167), lists it among Gallic items of dress.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Caesar says that the Germans wear skins or small coverings of rēnōnēs, leaving much of the body bare,[2][5] and Sallust that the Germans cover their otherwise naked bodies with them.[2][7] Servius, commenting on the Georgics, applies the word to the clothing of the Scythians,[2] and Sidonius uses it in describing the dress of Germans escorting a young prince.[2] Isidore of Seville defines rēnōnēs as coverings of the shoulders and chest down to the navel, so shaggy that they shed the rain.[5]

The OLD, with some hesitation, glosses it as a reindeer skin;[1] the TLL understands it as a garment of sheepskin.[2]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro names it as a Gallic garment.[5][2][6]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust says the Germans cover their bodies with it.[2][7][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar describes the Germans wearing skins and small rēnōnēs.[2][6]
  • c. 400 AD – Servius applies it to the clothing of the Scythians.[2][6]
  • c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it of German dress.[2][6]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville describes it as a shaggy covering for the shoulders and chest.[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A reindeer skin, or a garment made from it.[1]
  2. A fur garment covering the shoulders and chest, worn by Germans and Gauls.[5][7][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 l m n o p q r s t u Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  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 f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry

“Reno.” Etymologically, 25 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/reno. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

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