repetitio

Forms

repetītiō f (genitive repetītiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin repetō (“to seek again; to claim back; to repeat”) + -tiō, an action noun formed on the supine stem ⟨repetīt-⟩.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, which defines it as the figure in which several clauses begin with the same word.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Its senses follow those of repetō: a going back or return, which Hyginus has,^[2][5] the demanding back of something, and in law the right of reclaiming and the action for it;^[2][6] in speech and writing it is the repetition of a word, the rhetorical figure anaphora, and the recapitulation of a narrative or of arguments, as in Quintilian.^[2][3] The jurists used it often, and it passed into the Greek of the jurist Theophilus.^[3]

In Medieval Latin Niermeyer records it as a claim or action of revindication and the sum claimed,^[7] and Bede uses it of taking up an activity again.^[8] English repetition comes from it, partly through Old French, from the early 15th century.^[9]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium defines the figure repetītiō.^[3][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of claiming back a gift.^[2][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of repeating a word and of recapitulation.^[2][4]
• Medieval Latin – A legal claim, and the sum claimed.^[7]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as repetition.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A going back, return.^[2]
2. The act of claiming back;^[2][6] (law) the right to reclaim, an action for reclamation.^[2][6]
3. Repetition of a word;^[2][3] (rhetoric) anaphora.^[2][3]
4. Repetition of a narrative or of arguments, recapitulation.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A claim of revindication; the amount claimed.^[7]

Related words

• repetundae
• English repetition

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com