revinco

Forms

revincō (present infinitive revincere, perfect active revīcī, supine revictum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + vincō (“to conquer”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces vincō to Proto-Italic *wink- (“to tie, bind; overcome”) and Proto-Indo-European *ui-n-k- (“to bend, tie”), probably the root of vinciō (“to bind”) too.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest examples are in Lucretius, who uses it of the force of fire being overcome in its turn^[2][4] and asks whether the nose or the eyes could refute the sense of touch.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short find the literal sense, “to conquer in turn, subdue”, only in poetry and in Tacitus:^[5] Horace has victorious hordes overcome by a young man's plans, and Tacitus a conspiracy that was put down.^[2][5][6] The usual classical sense was legal or argumentative, “to refute, convict”: Cicero says a man will never be refuted by his own or his friends' judgement, Livy has charges disproved by facts, and Tacitus a man convicted by the leading citizens.^[2][5]

Apuleius uses it often in his Apology, where he says anyone innocent can be accused but only the guilty can be convicted.^[2] The jurist Ulpian has a guardian convicted of lying,^[2][5] and the Vulgate uses it in the Acts of the Apostles.^[5] Ecclesiastical dictionaries also give “to subdue again”.^[7]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of forces overcome in turn and of refuting the senses.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of refuting a man.^[2][5][8]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of hordes conquered in their turn.^[2][8]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of convicting the guilty.^[2][8]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a guardian convicted of lying.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To conquer or overcome in one's turn; to defeat (a claimant); to talk over.^[2][5]
2. To refute a person or a charge, prove false.^[2][5]
3. To convict, prove guilty.^[2][6]

Related words

• vincō
• convincō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de