rependo

Forms

rependō (present infinitive rependere, perfect active repependī, supine repēnsum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + pendō (“to weigh”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces pendō to Proto-Italic *pend-e/o- (“to hang, weigh”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend-e/o- (“to spin”): the verb went from putting in a hanging position to weighing out and paying.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation in the OLD is Cicero's, of the gold weighed out to Septumuleius for the head of Gaius Gracchus.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to weigh out an equal amount, and to balance against: Pliny the Elder says Ravenna grows asparagus three to the pound.^[2][5] Velleius uses it of paying weight for weight in gold.^[2] Propertius and Ovid use it of weighing back the spun wool to a mistress.^[2][5] More generally it is to pay in return or as a due, as in Virgil's if I repay great things, and in Seneca's Oedipus the speaker can never pay a penalty equal to his crimes.^[2] It is also to requite a service or injury, as Ovid's do you repay the saving of a life with this dowry?, and to buy back: Horace asks if a soldier ransomed with gold will come back the braver.^[2] Finally it is to make up for or balance, as in Ovid's one fault balanced by another.^[2] Church Latin glosses it to repay, reward or requite.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of gold weighed out for a head.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of repaying.^[2][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of ransoming a soldier.^[2][7]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius of paying weight for weight.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of asparagus weighed by the pound.^[2][5][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To weigh out an equal amount; to balance against.^[2][5][1]
2. To weigh back; to pay weight for weight.^[2][5]
3. To pay in return, repay; to pay (a penalty or due).^[2][1][6]
4. To requite (a service or injury); to buy, ransom.^[2][1]
5. To make up for, compensate, balance.^[2][1]

Related words

• pendō
• compēnsō

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 m n o p q r 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 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de