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reverbero

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈwɛr.bɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈvɛr.be.ro][1]

Forms

reverberō (present infinitive reverberāre, perfect active reverberāvī, supine reverberātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + verberō1 (“to beat, strike”).[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is post-Augustan.[4] Seneca the Elder, in the Controversiae, has it of a man whose body was so hardened by potions that it threw back stones (ut saxa reverberet).[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

It was used mostly of things that are driven back from a surface:[2] Curtius has the Indus, which often rebounds from the rocks that block it,[4][3] Columella soil that should give way softly and not throw back the young growth by its hardness,[4][3] and Apuleius bodies that reflect the rays of our sight.[4][6] Ammianus Marcellinus writes of a stone thrown back and of the winds driving back.[4][3]

Seneca uses it figuratively of beating back the wrath of Fortune,[4][3][5] and Claudianus Mamertus of a soul that rebounds from another.[3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it also means “to reproach”.[7] The Romance languages and English borrowed the word: French réverbérer, Italian riverberare, Spanish reverberar,[1] and English reverberate (1570s), first “to beat back”, later (from the 1590s) “to re-echo”.[8]

Timeline

  • 1st century AD – Curtius uses it of the Indus rebounding from rocks.[4][9]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of hard soil throwing back young growth.[4][9]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of reflecting rays.[4][6][9]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of a rebounding stone and of winds driving back.[4][9]
  • 1570s – English borrows it as reverberate, “to beat back”.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To beat back, repel (from a surface), cause to rebound.[2][4]
  2. (passive) To rebound, be thrown back.[4][3]
  3. To reflect (rays).[6][5]
  4. (figurative) To beat off, repel.[4][3]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To reproach.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de