Etymologically
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respuo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrɛs.pu.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɛs.pu.o][1]

Forms

respuō (present infinitive respuere, perfect active respuī, supine respūtum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + spuō (“to spit”).[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨spuō⟩ to Proto-Italic *spū̆-je/o- (“to spit”) and Proto-Indo-European *sp(i)uH-ie/o- (“to spit”), an imitative formation whose initial sounds were reshaped in several languages; cognate with Ancient Greek πτύω (ptúō, “to spit”), Lithuanian spiáuti (“to spit”) and Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (speiwan, “to spit”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius,[3] who has moisture forcing up beams and timbers.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is “to spit or spew out” what is tasted or swallowed, as in Cicero's account of what nature rejects from food;[2][4] Lucretius uses it of water forcing out timber and of rain thrown back by a horn lantern.[2][4] Far more often it is figurative: “to reject with disdain, spurn”, as Cicero says of someone who could not bear human follies, and to refuse to listen to something (“whose ears ever rejected this?”).[2][4] Gellius has the present participle with a genitive, “disdainful of”.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “spit upon, despise, reject”.[5]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of water forcing out beams.[2][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of food and of follies rejected.[2][6]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius of a man disdainful of common words.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To spit or spew out.[2][4][1]
  2. To throw back, repel.[2]
  3. To reject with disdain, spurn; to refuse to listen to.[2][4][1][5]
  • spuō

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. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de