trado

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈtraː.doː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtraː.do]^[1]

Forms

trādō (present infinitive trādere, perfect active trādidī, supine trāditum); third conjugation^[1] Also trānsdō, in an inscription, Terence, Accius and often in Caesar, and the Twelve Tables have trānsque datō in tmesis.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a compound of trāns “across” and dō “to give”.^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨dō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *di-déh₃- (“to give”), cognate with Umbrian ⟨dirsa⟩ “let him give”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are the Twelve Tables and Plautus, of handing over.^[2] Köbler dates the Twelve Tables c. 450 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to hand over, pass to another, as in Plautus and Cicero; to deliver into someone's keeping; to surrender to an enemy, as in Accius; to hand down, bequeath; to put a person at another's disposal, and to entrust a charge; to introduce a person, as in Cicero; to consign to a condition or process, as in Naevius and Accius; and to hand down information, relate, as in Plautus.^[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to betray, hand over, yield, hand down, relate, surrender.^[7] It survives as Italian tradire and French trahir “to betray”, and Romanian trăda.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of handing over and of relating.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of delivering and introducing.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hand over, deliver.^[2][3]
2. To surrender; to betray.^[2][7]
3. To hand down, bequeath.^[2]
4. To entrust.^[2]
5. To introduce (a person).^[2]
6. To hand down (a story), relate.^[2]

Word family

• contrado
• retrādō
• trāditiō
• trāditor
• traditus

Related words

• dō
• English tradition
• English traitor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson