Etymologically
Log in

tritus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

trītus (feminine trīta, neuter trītum; comparative trītior, superlative trītissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin terō (“to rub”).[1][2][3] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *tera- (“to rub”) and Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub”), and explains the ⟨ī⟩ of the participle and perfect from a form Proto-Indo-European *treh₁-i-;[4] cognates include Ancient Greek τείρω (teírō, “to oppress, distress”), τρίβω (trī́bō, “to rub, wear out”), Lithuanian tìrti (“to investigate”) and Old High German drāen (“to turn”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,[5] who calls the road to Greece well-trodden and speaks of words not current at Rome, verba nōn trīta Rōmae.[1][6]

Semantic evolution

From “rubbed” it means worn by friction: Propertius uses it of a window, Seneca of farmers' hands,[1] and Horace of a threadbare undershirt.[1][7] Of roads it means well-trodden, beaten, in Cicero, Catullus and Ovid.[1] Figuratively it is what is in constant use, familiar or common;[1] Cicero proposes to make a word more familiar by using it,[1] and he has a proverb that is trītum sermōne, “common in speech”.[2] Of people and their faculties it means practised: Cicero writes of ears so practised by reading that they can tell whether a line is by Plautus, and Vitruvius writes of hands practised in building.[1] Ulpian uses it of slaves set in their ways, and Pliny the Elder calls the cheapest kind of lōmentum trītum, “ground”.[1] Italian trito continues it.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a well-trodden road and of words in common use.[1][5]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a worn threshold.[1][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of threadbare clothes.[1][7][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of practised hands.[1][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it in the sense “ground”.[1][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Worn by rubbing;[1][2][7] (of clothes) worn, threadbare;[1][2][7] (of roads) well-trodden, beaten.[1][2][7]
  2. In constant use, familiar, common;[1][6][8] (of words) in common use, trite.[1][6][8]
  3. (of people, faculties) Experienced, practised; inured.[1][3]
  4. Ground, powdered.[1]

Usage notes

A separate noun trītus, -ūs (masculine), “rubbing, friction”, occurs only in the ablative: Cicero writes of stones struck and rubbed together, lapidum conflīctū atque trītū.[1][9][7] Medieval tritus, “third”, is a different word, from trēs.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b 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 f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell
  9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press