Etymologically
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tardo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtar.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtar.do][1]

Forms

tardō (present infinitive tardāre, perfect active tardāvī, supine tardātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is a verb from tardus (“slow”).[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it under ⟨tardus⟩, which he says has no etymology: Walde's comparison with Ancient Greek τέρυ (téru, “weak”) and Sanskrit तरुण (táruṇa-, “young, fresh”) is unconvincing in meaning and impossible in form.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4][5] where people in the harbour begin to hold up a boat, though there ⟨tardāre⟩ is an editor's correction of the manuscripts' ⟨turbāre⟩.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to slow down, delay or check: Cicero speaks of preventing someone's departure or at least delaying it, and of a sand that slows the feet in Ovid.[2][3] It is used of checking emotions and zeal, as when Cicero does not want to dampen the enthusiasm of many, and of dulling the senses.[2] Intransitively it is to delay, hold back, as when Cicero asks whether to summon Brutus or whether it was better for him to delay.[2]

L&S gives remoror and impediō as its near-synonyms.[3] Church Latin glosses it “tarry, delay, hinder”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of holding up a boat (an emendation).[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of delaying a departure and checking zeal.[2][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of checking an enemy.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To slow down, delay, check, hinder.[2][3][1][6]
  2. To restrain emotions or impulses; to dull the senses.[2]
  3. (intransitive) To delay, hold back, tarry.[2][1][6]

Word family

  • intardo
  • praetardō
  • retardō
  • tardabilis
  • tardātiō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson