Etymologically
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rixor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrɪk.sɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrik.sor][1]

Forms

rixor (present infinitive rixārī, perfect active rixātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rixa (“quarrel, brawl”) + -or.[2][3][1] De Vaan thinks rixa may come from an s-present, reconstructing Proto-Indo-European *h₁riḱ-s- (“to break, fight”) with a query and comparing Ancient Greek ἐρείκω (ereíkō, “to break, tear”) and Middle Welsh rwygaw (“to tear apart”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short's earliest example is Lucretius, of people brawling with much bloodshed,[3] and Cicero in De oratore tells of someone who had quarrelled with a man over a mistress.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means to quarrel violently or noisily, to brawl;[2][3] Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.[2][3] Horace uses it of quarrelling over goat's wool, that is, over trifles.[3] Tacitus says that an orator of the bad kind does not fight but brawls.[3] Figuratively the elder Seneca speaks of a man, stubborn by nature, struggling with his fortune.[2] Of things it means to struggle against a force: Varro says that dried plants resist and break rather than being cut.[2] It is also used of opposed qualities that clash: Seneca writes of the moment when desire and fear are not at war with each other.[2] Stelten gives "to quarrel" for Church Latin.[5]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of bloody brawls.[3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a quarrel over a mistress.[2]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of dried plants that resist the sickle.[2]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of quarrelling over goat's wool.[3]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of desire and fear at war.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To quarrel, brawl, wrangle;[2][3][1][5] (figurative) to struggle (with circumstances).[2][3][1][5]
  2. (of things) To struggle against a force;[2] (of qualities, sounds) to clash.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson