Etymologically
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repulsus

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repulsus1 rejected

Forms

repulsus (feminine repulsa, neuter repulsum, comparative repulsior); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

The adjective “rejected” is from Latin repellō (“to drive back, reject”), its past participle.[1][2] That verb is formed from re- and pellō (“to push, drive”), whose participle de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *plh₂-to-, from a root meaning “to approach”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the adjective from Cato,[4] who asked in a speech, quoted by Festus, whether anyone was more shut out from public affairs: pūblicīs negōtiīs repulsior.[1][5]

Semantic evolution

The OLD glosses it “rejected, spurned”.[1] Georges and Gaffiot give the sense far removed, as in Lucretius, of something far removed from true reasoning.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses the comparative repulsior in a speech.[1][4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it in the sense “far removed”.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Rejected, spurned.[1]
  2. Far removed, distant (from).[2][6]

repulsus2 driving back

Forms

repulsus m (genitive repulsūs); fourth declension[1][7]

Etymology

The noun “driving back” is from Latin repellō (“to drive back”) + -tus, a noun of action.[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the noun from Lucretius,[4] who uses it of the images that are thrown back by mirrors with constant repeated rebounding: assiduō crebrōque repulsū.[1][7]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly poetic and found mainly in the ablative singular.[7][8] A verse of Cicero quoted in On Divination uses it of a roar echoing back from the rocks.[7][2] Pliny the Elder uses it of counter-pressure: of the impact of a hard material, of the teeth pressing out a viper's venom, and of a wind forced back by the stars.[1][8]

Claudian uses it of the reflection of light and the clash of shields,[7][2] Prudentius of a spear rebounding from a breastplate, and Augustine of weights made to move by an outside force.[8]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of images reflected by mirrors.[1][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of an echo from rocks in a verse.[7][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of counter-pressure.[1][4]
  • 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of a spear rebounding from armour.[8][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A driving back, counter-pressure, impact.[1][8]
  2. Reflection (of light), rebound; echo, reverberation (of sound).[7][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften