Etymologically
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repatrio

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Forms

repatriō (present infinitive repatriāre, perfect active repatriāvī); first conjugation, intransitive[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- (“back”) + patria (“native land”).[3][1][2] The noun patria is derived from pater (“father”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is Late Latin,[5] first found in Solinus, who says that many captives returned home unharmed.[5][1]

Semantic evolution

Solinus also uses it of returning, in his description, to a place, Pelusium,[1][2][6] and Ambrose has it in the sense “to go home”.[1] In Cassiodorus a territory “returns” to Roman rule, that is to a former owner.[5][6]

The TLL derives Old French repairier, and through it Old Occitan repairar and Old Italian repadriare, from this verb, unless they come from reparō or a form ⟨*repariāre⟩.[3] English took its participle as the source of repatriate in the 1610s.[7]

Timeline

  • first half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it of captives returning home.[5][1][8]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it.[1][8]
  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it of a return to Roman rule.[5][2][8]
  • 1610s – English forms repatriate from its participle.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To return to one's own country, go home again.[5][1][2]
  2. (figurative) To return to a subject in speaking or writing.[1][2][6]
  3. (figurative) To return to a former owner or rule.[5][6]
  • English repatriate

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  2. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b 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 f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de