Etymologically
Log in

roro

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 04:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈroː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɔː.ro][1]

Forms

rōrō (present infinitive rōrāre, perfect active rōrāvī, supine rōrātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rōs (“dew”) + -ō.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces rōs to Proto-Italic *rōs and Proto-Indo-European *h₁rōs (“dew, juice”), comparing Sanskrit रस (rása-, “juice, liquid”) and Lithuanian rasà (“dew”), and probably the verb seen in Hittite ārš- (“to flow”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotations are in Lucretius, of faces wet with tears, and in Varro, who says it drizzles before it rains.[2]

Semantic evolution

Without an object it is to shed moisture as drizzle or dew, and impersonally it drizzles: Ovid has Aurora shedding dew over the whole world, and Propertius Mevania misty in its hollow plain.[2][3] It is also to drip or run with moisture, as Propertius' horses, and of liquid to fall in drops, as Lucretius' tears.[2] With an object it is to sprinkle or shower down liquids, as Quintus Cicero's Aquarius pouring out mists, and to moisten or wet: Ovid has the earth soft with the morning frost.[2] The Vulgate's rōrāte, caelī asks the heavens to drop down dew.[3] Church Latin glosses it to bedew.[5]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of tears wetting the face.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of drizzle before rain.[2][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of Aurora shedding dew.[3][6]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate's rōrāte, caelī.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To shed dew or moisture;[2][3][1][5] (impersonal) to drizzle.[2][3][1][5]
  2. To drip or run with moisture; of liquid, to fall in drops, trickle.[2][1]
  3. (transitive) To sprinkle, shower down; to moisten, wet.[2][1]

Word family

  • circumrōrō
  • irrōrō
  • rōrātiō
  • rōridus
  • adrōrō
  • arrōrō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g 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
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de