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retundo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word retundo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*(s)tu-n-d-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tundo
Latin retundo
Latin pertundo
Latin extundo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈtʊn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈtun.do][1]

Forms

retundō (present infinitive retundere, perfect active rettudī or retudī, supine retūsum or retūnsum); third conjugation[1] The perfect is rettudī or retudī, the participle retūsus or retūnsus, the latter in Plautus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + tundō (“to beat, pound”).[2][1] De Vaan traces tundō to Proto-Italic *(s)tund- (“to thrust”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)tu-n-d- (“to thrust”), a nasal present.[4] Cognate with Sanskrit तुदति (tudáti, “thrusts”) and Old Irish do·tuit (“to fall”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] where a man put in charge of a province with an axe objects that the axe is blunt, at haec retunsast.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is to beat back the edge of something sharp, to make it blunt:[2][3] Cicero speaks of blunting the swords drawn against the state.[3] Celsus uses the participle of a hook with a widened angle.[2] Figuratively it is to check the force of a person or thing, to repress or quell: Terence has the wish to curb a spirit that now melts away in luxury.[2] It is also to abate a condition or blunt someone's speech or actions, and in Silius to weaken a person's fortunes.[2] Church Latin has it as to blunt, dull, deaden, weaken.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a blunted axe.[2][4][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, of curbing a spirit.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of blunting swords.[3][6]
  • 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus, of weakened fortunes.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make blunt by beating, dull the edge of;[2][3][1] to beat back, drive back.[1]
  2. To check, repress, quell;[2][1] to abate, deaden.[2][1]
  3. To weaken, impair.[2][5]

Word family

  • irretūsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Retundo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/retundo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·