Etymologically
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trano

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtraː.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtraː.no][1]

Forms

trānō (present infinitive trānāre, perfect active trānāvī, supine trānātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled trānsnō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin trāns- (“across”) + nō (“to swim”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces nō to Proto-Italic *(s)nāje/o- (“to swim”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to swim, float”), cognate with Old Irish snaïd (“swims”) and Sanskrit स्नात (snātá-, “bathed, washed”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Ennius' Annals, of passing swiftly through the soft air.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to swim across: Caesar has a river that it was easy to swim across, and a very few men who trusted their strength and tried to swim over.[2][3] Livy tells of a man who leapt into the Tiber and swam safely back to his own side.[3] It also means to sail across, as in the Ciris and the Culex.[2] In poetry it is used of moving through the air: Virgil has Mercury, trusting in his wand, driving the winds and passing through the stormy clouds.[2] Of things it means to pass smoothly across, as the night crossing the sky in Cicero's Aratea,[2] and Wiktionary adds to penetrate or permeate.[1] The OLD files it under the spelling trānsnō.[2]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of passing through the air.[2]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of night crossing the sky.[2]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of swimming across a river.[2][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of Mercury passing through the clouds.[2]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of swimming the Tiber.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To swim across or through;[2][3][1] (intransitive) to swim to the other side.[2][3][1]
  2. To sail or float across;[2] (poetic) to pass through the air.[2]
  3. (of things) To pass smoothly across; to penetrate, permeate.[2][1]

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 l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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