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repudio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word repudio

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (pudeō)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈpʊ.di.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈpuː.di.o][1]

Forms

repudiō (present infinitive repudiāre, perfect active repudiāvī, supine repudiātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from repudium (“rejection, divorce”) with the verb ending -ō.[2][1][3] De Vaan lists both among the derivatives of pudeō (“to be ashamed”), from Proto-Italic *pud-ē- (“to be ashamed or shy”); the further origin of that root is unclear, and he finds a link with Proto-Indo-European *speud- (“to press, hurry”) attractive in meaning but not proven.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.[4] In the Truculentus it is the formal rejection of a suitor: sī repudiātur mīles, “if the soldier is turned down”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first the formal rejection of a prospective husband or wife, and then divorce: Velleius says Cinna could not be frightened into divorcing his daughter.[2][5] More widely it is to refuse a person in some role (Plautus: repudiō tē frāterculum, “I disown you as a brother”), to refuse gifts or proposals, to reject a policy, a request or a duty, to refuse to believe something, and to give up something one has used, as the Claudii gave up the first name Lucius.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “reject, repudiate”.[6] English repudiate (1540s), first “cast off by divorce”, comes from its past participle.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of rejecting a suitor and disowning a brother.[4][2][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of rejecting a way of life.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of rejecting a duty and refusing to believe.[2][8]
  • 1540s – English repudiate.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To reject formally (a suitor or betrothed); to divorce.[2][1][5]
  2. To refuse to accept (a person in some role), spurn, disown.[2][1]
  3. To decline (gifts, proposals).[2][6]
  4. To repudiate (a policy, request or duty); to refuse to believe.[2][6]
  5. To give up, abandon (a name, law or treaty).[2]

Word family

  • repudiātiō
  • repudiator

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 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. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Repudio.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/repudio. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·