territo

Forms

territō (present infinitive territāre, perfect active territāvī, supine territātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin terreō (“to frighten”) + -itō, a frequentative.^[2][1] De Vaan traces terreō to Proto-Italic *tros-eje- (“to scare”) and Proto-Indo-European *tros-eie- (“to make scared”), comparing Ancient Greek τρέω (tréō, “to tremble, flee”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in a question: why threaten him with death?^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to keep someone in fear, to try to scare: in Plautus a character says that he will not be scared by such words.^[2][4] Of facts and conditions it means to strike lasting fear into someone.^[2] Lewis & Short call it classical, though perhaps not used by Cicero.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of threats of death and of scaring words.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To try to scare, intimidate, threaten.^[2][1]
2. To frighten, terrify, alarm.^[2][4][1]

Word family

• conterrito
• perterrito

Related words

• terreō
• conterreō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de