retrorsum

Forms

retrōrsum (not comparable)^[1] It also appears as retrōrsus, the form under which the OLD lists it, and as retrōvorsum and retrōversus.^[2][3] A grammarian cites the form retrōsum.^[2]

Etymology

It is a contraction of ⟨retrōvorsum⟩, from retrō (“backwards”) and vorsum (“towards”), the old form of the adverb from vertō (“to turn”).^[2][1][4] De Vaan traces that verb to Proto-Indo-European *uert-e/o- (“to turn”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Lucretius on,^[5] who says that an image striking a mirror is thrown straight back (rēcta retrōrsum).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin it means backwards or back the way one came.^[2][4] Horace has retrōrsum vēla dare, “to sail back”,^[3][6] and Hannibal's threats are thrown back in one of his odes.^[2][3] Cicero uses it for “the other way round”: air turns into ether, and then ether back into air.^[2][6] Quintilian uses it of words in the reverse order, and the jurists of reckoning back in time.^[2][4]

It stayed in use in Christian and medieval Latin:^[7][8] Bede has the sun turned back,^[9] and medieval glosses render it with Old High German words for “backwards”.^[8] English word lists gloss it with bakward.^[9]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of an image thrown back by a mirror.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for “in reverse order”.^[2][8]
• 65–8 BC – Horace writes retrōrsum vēla dare.^[3][8]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of the order of words.^[2][8]
• early 8th century – Bede uses it of the sun turned back.^[9][8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Backwards, towards the rear.^[2][4]
2. Back the way one has come; back again.^[2][4]
3. In reverse order, the other way round.^[2][6]
4. (law) Back in time, retroactively.^[2][7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press