Etymologically
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revereor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈwɛ.re.ɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈvɛː.re.or][1]

Forms

revereor (present infinitive reverērī, perfect active reveritus sum); second conjugation, deponent[1] Priscian records an active form revereō.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + vereor (“to fear, respect”).[3][1][4] De Vaan traces vereor to Proto-Italic *wer-ē- (“to be wary”) and Proto-Indo-European *u(e)r-eh₁- (“to note, sense”), comparing Old English wær (“careful”) and Old High German wara (“attention”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.[5] In the OLD's earliest quotation a man, asked what shame there is in marrying, says he feels abashed before his son.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is first to feel abashed before someone, mostly in negative contexts, and to feel dismay at a prospect: Terence has two women who will dread someone's arrival.[3] Varro has an impersonal construction with the genitive, to have regard for someone.[3] More positively it is to treat with deference, revere: Tacitus writes of men whom magistrates revered before leaving for their provinces.[3] Lewis & Short call it early and post-Augustan.[2] Döderlein contrasts it with vereor, respect bordering on fear: in ⟨reverērī⟩ the respect comes first, and both are feeling reverence, while veneror is showing it.[7] Church Latin glosses it to stand in awe of, revere, respect, be ashamed, fear.[8] English revere comes from it through French, from the 1660s.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a father abashed before his son.[3][5][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of dreading an arrival.[3][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of magistrates revering men.[3][6]
  • 1660s – English revere.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To feel abashed before, stand in awe of; to dread.[3][2][1][8]
  2. To treat with deference, revere, respect.[3][2][1][8]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson