resero

Forms

reserō (present infinitive reserāre, perfect active reserāvī, supine reserātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- (“back”) + sera (“bar”), with the verbal ending ⟨-ō⟩: to draw back the bar.^[2][3][1] The TLL compares obserō (“to bolt”), and the grammarians Nonius and Festus already derived the verb from the bar whose removal opens the doors.^[3] De Vaan files sera (“detachable bar”) with serō (“to join, thread”), from Proto-Italic *sere/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ser-e/o- (“to thread, tie together”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short note that it is classical but frequent especially after Augustus.^[5] The OLD's first examples are in Cicero's Philippics, of opening Italy to foreign nations, and in Tibullus, of silently unbarring doors.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is to draw back the bar of a door, and so to unbar a building or open a container;^[2][5] Virgil has the citizens wanting to unbar the city and open its gates.^[2][5] Ovid extends it to opening the year, of Janus.^[2] It also means to make a place accessible, to lay bare by physical action, and to open to view, as Virgil's earth gaping to disclose the underworld.^[2] Of secrets it means to reveal, as Ovid's Pythagoras disclosing the oracles of the divine mind.^[2] Church Latin glosses it to reveal, open, make clear, unlock.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of opening Italy to foreign nations.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of unbarring a city.^[2][7]
• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus of unbarring doors.^[2][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of disclosing secrets.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw back the bar of a door, unbar; to unfasten, open; to open a period of time.^[2][5][1]
2. To open a place to access, make accessible.^[2][5]
3. To lay bare, expose.^[2]
4. To open to view; to make known, disclose.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• reseratus

Related words

• obserō
• sera

Usage notes

A separate reserō, -serere, -sēvī, from re- and serō (“to sow”), means to sow or plant again, in Varro, Columella and Pliny the Elder.^[2][3][5]

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 m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de