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renuo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word renuo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*neu-e/o-)

Pronunciation

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

Forms

renuō (present infinitive renuere, perfect active renuī); third conjugation, no supine stem[1] It is also spelled rennuō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from re- (“back”) and the verb ⟨-nuō⟩ “to nod”, found only in compounds such as abnuō;[4][3][5] the OLD connects it with nūtō (“to nod”).[2] De Vaan traces ⟨-nuō⟩ to Proto-Italic *nowe/o- and Proto-Indo-European *neu-e/o- (“to nod”).[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek νεύω (neúō, “to nod, beckon”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it transitively of a man who refused no dinner party, qui nullum convivium renuerit;[2] Lewis & Short note that it is rare before the Augustan period.[4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to throw back the head as a sign of disapproval or refusal, as in Horace's “the Sabine shakes his head and denies it”.[2] It then means to refuse or disapprove, as when Tibullus imagined a happy life while the god refused it,[2] and transitively to refuse or decline something.[2] Tacitus has renuit Tiberius, “Tiberius declined”.[4] In Church Latin it is to refuse, to deny by a motion of the head, to reject or decline.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of refusing a dinner party.[2][7]
  • c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus, of a god refusing.[2][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of shaking the head in denial.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of Tiberius declining.[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To throw back the head in refusal or dissent, to nod a denial.[2][4][1][6]
  2. To refuse, disapprove, deny.[2][4][1]
  3. To refuse, decline, reject something.[2][4][1][6]

Word family

  • renūtus
  • renūtō

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. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Renuo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/renuo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·