Etymologically
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tricor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtriː.kɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtriː.kor][1]

Forms

trīcor (present infinitive trīcārī, perfect active trīcātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin trīcae (“complications, tricks; trifles”) + -or, a deponent verb made from the noun.[2][3][1] The origin of trīcae is uncertain: de Vaan compares a Tocharian verb meaning “miss”, while noting that Tocharian allows several reconstructions, or, if “trifles” was the oldest sense, the forms in ⟨trī-⟩ that belong to terō (“to rub”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Cicero's letters to Atticus,[2][5] meaning “to be evasive, make difficulties”: Publilius tecum tricatus est, “Publilius has been evasive with you”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The deponent kept the sense of shuffling and raising difficulties in Phaedrus and Columella.[6][5] An active form trīcō appears in the Tironian notes, in Apicius and in the Vulgate, where it means “to dally, delay”.[6][3] Stelten glosses the word in Church Latin as “to trifle”.[7]

Etymonline reports that scholars of French trace Old French trichier (“to cheat”) to Vulgar Latin *triccō, from this verb, and so ultimately the English word trick; others suggest a Dutch source for the French word.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of someone behaving evasively.[2][9]
  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it.[6][9]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it.[5][9]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has the active trīcō, “to dally”.[3][9]
  • early 15th century – English trick appears, a word some scholars trace back to this verb.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To behave in an evasive way, make difficulties, shuffle.[2][3][5]
  2. (Late Latin, active trīcō) To dally, delay: hōrā surgendī nē tē trīcēs, “at the hour of rising, do not dally” (Vulgate, Sirach 32:15).[3][6]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To trifle.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de