Etymologically
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repono

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈpoː.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈpɔː.no][1]

Forms

repōnō (present infinitive repōnere, perfect active reposuī or reposīvī, supine repositum or repostum); third conjugation[1] Plautus has the old perfect reposīvī.[2][3] Poets use the syncopated participle repostus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin re- (“back, again”) + pōnō (“to put, place”).[2][1] De Vaan explains pōnō as ⟨*po-sinō⟩ “to put down”, with the old perfect ⟨-posīvī⟩.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Asinaria: sī reposīvī rēmum, “if I have laid down the oar”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to put something back in its place, to replace something, and to serve food again or replace it with a fresh course (Virgil).[2] Horace uses it of bringing a character back onto the stage, and of restoring lost virtue.[2] It is also to repay benefits or injuries (Horace), and to put one thing in place of another (Cicero).[2] Ennius' cranes set down their legs, and Lucretius has a head laid back.[2]

Another set of senses is to put away for keeping, store up, also in records or in the memory (Quintilian), to lay something down out of use, and to lay a body to rest.[2] With in it is to place in a class, and to rest one's hopes or a case on someone (Cicero).[2] Church Latin glosses it “keep, preserve, place, set back”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of laying down an oar.[2][6]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of cranes setting down their legs.[2][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of storing up.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of resting a case on the judges.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of bringing Achilles back on the stage.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put back, replace; to restore.[2][1][5]
  2. To serve again (food or drink).[2]
  3. To repay, requite; to put in place of something else.[2][3]
  4. To lay down; to lay back.[2]
  5. To put away, store; to keep (in memory or records).[2][1][5]
  6. To lay to rest (a body).[2]
  7. To place (in a class); to rest (hopes) on.[2]
  8. (medicine) To set (a dislocated bone).[1]

Word family

  • repositiō
  • repositōrium
  • repostor

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 q r s t u v Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de