repercussus

Forms

repercussus m (genitive repercussūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin repercutiō (“to strike back, reflect”) + -tus, a noun of action.^[2][3][4] That verb is formed from re- and percutiō (“to strike”), which de Vaan lists among the derivatives of quatiō (“to shake”); he thinks that verb may be non-Indo-European in origin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca is its first author.^[6] In On Benefits he compares idle men who shine with the light of their ancestors to dirty places lit up by the reflection of the sun, repercussū sōlis.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It named a throwing or pushing back, of light, sound or a mass of water or air.^[7][4] Seneca and Pliny the Elder use it of light striking a surface and of reflections;^[8] Pliny also of the counter-pressure of the Etesian winds, of colours reflected in marble,^[8] and of towers that multiply a voice by repeated echoes.^[2][4] Tacitus describes shields held to the mouth so that the voice swells fuller and deeper by the echo,^[2][4] and Florus the glitter and reflection of helmets that made the sky seem to burn.^[2][7] Pliny the Younger uses it of the pressure of the sea.^[2]

In British Medieval Latin Bede uses it of light reflected in a polished beryl, and in metrics it was used to render Ancient Greek ἀνάπαιστος (anápaistos), the anapaest.^[9]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the reflection of the sun.^[2][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of winds, reflections and echoes.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a voice swelling by the echo from shields.^[2][6]
• c. 120 AD – Florus uses it of the reflection of helmets.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pushing back, counter-pressure.^[2][10]
2. Reflection (of light or colour).^[2][7]
3. An echo, reverberation.^[2][4][10]
4. The striking of light on a reflecting surface.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin, metrics) An anapaest.^[9]

Related words

• percutiō
• quatiō
• English repercussion

Usage notes

Repercussus, -a, -um is also the perfect passive participle of repercutiō, “driven back, reflected”.^[7][8][10] Köbler records a medieval adjective repercussus “reflecting” from about 1194.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ 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 d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier