Etymologically
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transfero

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈtrãːf.fɛ.roː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtrans.fe.ro][1]

Forms

trānsferō (present infinitive trānsferre, perfect active trānstulī, supine trānslātum); third conjugation, suppletive[1] It is also spelled trāferō, with the supine trālātum.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin trāns (“across”) + ferō (“to carry”).[2][3][1] De Vaan derives ferō from Proto-Italic *fere/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-e/o- (“to carry”), while the participle ⟨-lātum⟩ comes from *tlh₂-to- (“lifted”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has cadum modo hinc ā mē hūc cum vīnō trānsferam, “I'll just carry a jar of wine over here from my house”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Trānsferre is “to carry across, transport”, and “to move, shift” something to another place (Lucretius of an image passing from mirror to mirror).[2][3][1] It transfers abstract things from one person to another (Terence: culpam in tē trānsferet, “he will shift the blame onto you”), and applies them to a new use: Terence says he “transferred” what suited from the Perinthia into the Andria.[2][1] It also means to put off to another date, “to postpone”, and to carry in a procession.[2][1]

In a special sense it is “to translate” into another language, as Cicero speaks of making Plato and Aristotle known to his fellow citizens, and in rhetoric “to use figuratively”.[2][1] Church Latin glosses it “to move, remove, transfer, transform, translate”.[6] English transfer comes from it in the late 14th century, and translate, from its participle, in the early 14th.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: cum vīnō trānsferam.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: culpam in tē trānsferet.[2][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of images passing between mirrors.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of translating Greek authors.[2][5]
  • early 14th century – English translate.[7]
  • late 14th century – English transfer.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To carry across, transport, convey.[2][3][1][6]
  2. To move, shift, transfer.[2][3][6]
  3. To transfer (to another person); to apply (to a new use).[2][1]
  4. To put off, postpone.[2][1]
  5. To translate (into another language);[2][1][6] to use figuratively.[1]
  6. To carry in procession;[1] to change, transform.[1][6]

Word family

  • trānslātīcius
  • trānslātiō
  • trānslātīvus
  • trānslātor
  • trānslātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com