Etymologically
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renovo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrɛ.nɔ.woː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɛː.no.vo][1]

Forms

renovō (present infinitive renovāre, perfect active renovāvī, supine renovātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin re- + novō (“to make new”).[2][1][3] The verb comes from novus (“new”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *nowo- and Proto-Indo-European *néwos (“new”), cognate with Sanskrit नव (náva, “new”), Ancient Greek νέος (néos, “new, young”) and Old Church Slavonic новъ (novŭ, “new”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius says the sea's springs constantly replenish it.[5] Cicero speaks of restoring a fading picture with its original colours.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to restore something to its first condition, as Cicero's faded painting, to replenish (stars fed by vapours), to renew plants (Columella), to recondition land (Ovid), to reopen a wound (Celsus) and to relight a torch (Statius).[2] It is to refresh a person or the spirits, and to revive things, as new colonies founded and old ones renewed.[2] It is to renew a treaty or law, and faenus renovāre is to add interest to the principal.[2] It is also to resume an activity (Cicero took up philosophy again) or a ceremony, and to bring back a time.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “renew, build anew, restore”.[6] English renovate (1520s) comes from its past participle.[7]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of springs renewing the sea.[5][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a painting, a treaty and compound interest.[2][8]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of renewed land.[2][8]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of a reopened wound.[2][8]
  • 1520s – English renovate.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To restore, renew; to replenish; to reopen (a wound).[2][1][6]
  2. To refresh, revive.[2][1]
  3. To renew (a treaty, law); faenus renovāre, to compound interest.[2]
  4. To resume, take up again; to repeat.[2][1]
  • novus
  • novō
  • English renovate

Usage notes

Lewis and Short give īnstaurō and redintegrō as synonyms.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de