revomo

Forms

revomō (present infinitive revomere, perfect active revomuī); third conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + vomō (“to vomit”).^[1][3] De Vaan traces vomō to Proto-Italic *weme/o- and Proto-Indo-European *uemh₁- (“to vomit”), a root present that was thematized in Latin.^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἐμέω (eméō) and Lithuanian vémti (“to vomit”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan in prose.^[5] Its earliest example is in Lucretius, of water that thrusts beams and timbers up again and casts them back (sursum revomit atque remittit).^[1][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Virgil has it of someone spewing salt water from his chest (salsos … revomentem pectore fluctus).^[5][6] Ovid writes that Charybdis swallows ships and spews them back (vorat haec raptas revomitque carinas),^[5][6] and Seneca has it of the sea in his tragedies;^[1][5] Silius Italicus of sailors spewing up sea water.^[5] Pliny the Elder uses it of serpents bringing up the feathers of the birds they have swallowed.^[5][7] Florus writes that the seas kept casting up spoils, and uses it figuratively of a victory ill gained and given up again with blood and breath.^[1][5][7]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of water casting up timbers.^[1][5][8]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of spewing out salt water.^[5][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Charybdis spewing back ships.^[5][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of serpents bringing up feathers.^[5][8]
• c. 120 AD – Florus uses it of the sea and, figuratively, of a victory.^[1][5][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To vomit up again, disgorge.^[1][5][7]
2. (of the sea or a whirlpool) To cast up, throw back.^[1][5]
3. (figurative) To give up again (what was ill gained).^[5][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de