tortus
tortus1 twisted
Forms
tortus (feminine torta, neuter tortum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]
Etymology
The adjective “twisted” is from Latin torqueō (“to twist, turn”), its perfect passive participle used as an adjective.[1][2][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler's earliest source is Plautus,[4] who uses it of knitted brows, tortis superciliis, and figuratively of twisted, captious terms, condiciones tortas.[3][2][5]
Semantic evolution
In Classical Latin it describes things curved, bent or coiled: Virgil has torta quercus, a twisted oak garland, and a cucumber growing twisted through the grass;[3][2][5][6] Propertius calls the Labyrinth torta via;[3][2][5][6] Ovid uses it of a beehive of twisted withies.[3][2][5][6] Of hair it means curly.[1][7] As a noun, the neuter tortum was the rack-rope in Pacuvius and something crooked or wrong in later writers.[2] In Medieval Latin tortum became the word for an injustice or wrong, the source of French tort and English tort;[8][4] Italian torto also comes from it.[3]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of knitted brows and of twisted terms.[4][3]
- 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a twisted oak garland.[5][4]
- mid-13th century – English tort is borrowed from Old French tort and Medieval Latin tortum.[8]
Meanings
Adjective
- Twisted, coiled, plaited; curved, crooked.[1][2][3]
- (of hair) Curly.[1][7]
- (figurative) Intricate, captious.[2][6]
Noun
- (neuter, tortum) A rack-rope; something crooked.[2]
- (Medieval Latin, neuter, tortum) A wrong, an injustice.[8][4]
tortus2 twist
Forms
tortus m (genitive tortūs); fourth declension[9]
Etymology
The noun “twist” is from Latin torqueō (“to twist, turn”) + -tus, an action noun.[1][9]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first found in Cicero's verse, of the coils of a serpent: tortu multiplicabili draco “a serpent of many coils”.[1][10]
Semantic evolution
It remained a poetic word.[10] Virgil uses the plural of a wounded snake's coils, longos dat corpore tortus “makes long coils with its body” (Aeneid 5.276); Statius of the whirling of a sling-strap;[1][3][2] Arnobius of the curves of trumpets.[1][3][2] In Medieval Latin it also meant a torch or long candle.[4]
Timeline
- 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a serpent's coils.[1][4]
- 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the plural of a snake's coils.[1][4]
- c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of whirling a sling.[1][4]
- 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of the curves of trumpets.[2][4]
Meanings
Noun
- A twisting, winding; a coil, wreath.[1][10]
- A whirling, hurling.[1][10]
- (Medieval Latin) A torch, long candle.[4]
Word family
- tortuōsus
Related words
- torqueō
- English tort
References
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ a b c d Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell
- ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press