Etymologically
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reversio

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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]

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