Etymologically
Log in

repercutio

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word repercutio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin (re-,percutio)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin percutio
Latin percussor
Latin repercutio

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛ.pɛrˈkʊ.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [re.perˈkut.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

repercutiō (present infinitive repercutere, perfect active repercussī, supine repercussum); third (-iō variant) conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + percutiō (“to strike”).[2][1][3] percutiō is a compound of quatiō (“to shake”), for which de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kwat-i-; he compares Germanic words for shaking such as Old High German scutten (“to shake”), and thinks it may be a word of non-Indo-European origin.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short find it only from the Augustan age.[5] Virgil has the trembling light of water in bronze basins reflected by the sun,[2][5] and Livy valleys that echo the shouting.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is to drive back or make rebound: Ovid has a discus bouncing back from the hard earth, Valerius Maximus a rower thrown overboard and hurled back into the ship by a wave, and Seneca a ball returned by the hand and wind turned back by a headland.[2][5] Of light it is to reflect: Ovid has gems reflecting the sun and an image in water, and Seneca a mirror reflecting the sun.[2][5] Of sound it is to echo: Curtius has a shout echoed by mountain ridges, and Tacitus voices thrown back by the winding of a mountain.[2][5] Ovid also has Medusa's form seen in the reflecting bronze of a shield.[2] Quintilian uses it of turning an argument back on an opponent.[2][5] Church Latin has “strike or push back, reverberate, re-echo, resound”.[7] English repercuss came from its participle in the early 15th century.[8]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of reflected light.[2][9]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of echoing valleys.[2][9]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a rebounding discus and reflected sunlight.[2][9]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of retorting an argument.[2][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drive back, make rebound, repel; to turn (an argument) back on an opponent.[2][5][1]
  2. To reflect (light).[2][5][1]
  3. To reflect (sound), make echo.[2][5][1]
  4. To strike against (a reflecting body).[2]

Word family

  • irrepercussus
  • repercussibilis
  • repercussiō
  • repercussus

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 n o p 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 f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Repercutio.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/repercutio. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·