Etymologically
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rescio

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Forms

resciō, rescīre (fourth conjugation, transitive)[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin rescīscō (“to find out”), a back-formation.[1][3] That verb is a compound of re- and scīscō (“to get to know”), from sciō (“to know”).[4] De Vaan traces sciō to Proto-Italic *skije/o- (“to know”) and probably to Proto-Indo-European *skh₁-i(e/o)- (“to incise”), with “know” developing from “distinguish, decide”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it first in the sayings of Publilius Syrus: inferior rescit, quicquid peccat superior, “the lower man finds out whatever wrong the higher one does”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The OLD treats it as equal to rescīscō,[1] and the TLL notes that it means much the same as sciō, the force of the prefix being unclear.[3] Aulus Gellius discusses the verb and says it properly describes someone who learns of a fact that was hidden or unexpected.[3][2] It is otherwise found mostly in late writers: the jurist Pomponius in the Digest, the Historia Augusta, the Itinerarium Alexandri, Commodian, Facundus and other Christian authors.[3][2] In the manuscripts it is often confused with scīre and rescīscere.[3]

Timeline

  • 1st century BC – Publilius Syrus, “to find out”.[3][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius discusses its meaning.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To find out, learn (of something hidden or unexpected), to come to know; the same as rescīscō.[1][3][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de