reversio

Forms

reversiō f (genitive reversiōnis); third declension^[1] Plautus has the spelling revorsiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin revertor (“to turn back, return”) + -tiō,^[2][3] or from the active form ⟨revertō⟩ that Lewis & Short and Wiktionary give.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[5][6] who in the Bacchides says of some people that they make their way back to land in the evening (reversiōnem ad terram faciunt vesperī).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of turning back on a journey before reaching one's destination, which Lewis & Short and Georges distinguish from reditus, a return after arriving; he writes that someone was glad at his “return, or rather his turning back” (reditū vel potius reversiōne meā).^[4][3][6] He also uses it of the return of the stars to their starting point and of the recurrence of fevers,^[2][4] and Apuleius of the annual return of the sun.^[4]

Quintilian uses it to translate the Greek rhetorical term anastrophē, the inversion of words in mēcum and sēcum,^[2][4] and Julius Rufinianus for two other figures of repetition.^[3] In medieval Britain it meant a return, the reflux of the sea or of a stream, the cycle of time, a return to life, and a return to grace through penance.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a return.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of turning back on a journey and of the return of the stars.^[4][2][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for the figure anastrophe.^[2][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of the annual return of the sun.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A turning back, a return.^[2][4][3]
2. Of heavenly bodies, a return to their starting point.^[2][6]
3. A coming round again, recurrence, as of fevers or seasons.^[2][4]
4. (rhetoric) Inversion of the natural word order, anastrophe.^[2][4]
5. (Medieval Latin) The reflux of the sea or of a stream.^[7]
6. (Medieval Latin) A return to grace through penance.^[7]

Related words

• revertor

Usage notes

Lewis & Short and Georges distinguish reversiō, turning back before reaching one's goal, from reditus, coming back after reaching it.^[4][3]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 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