versura

Forms

versūra f (genitive versūrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vertō (“to turn”) + -ūra, made from the stem of the participle ⟨versus⟩ and also spelt ⟨vorsūra⟩.^[2][3][4] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *wertō and Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).^[1] The sense “borrowing” was explained by Festus as a change of creditor: those who borrowed did not take the money home but used it to pay another lender, and so “turned” their creditor.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Terence,^[4] whose proverb in eōdem lutō haesitās: vorsūrā solvēs, “you are stuck in the same mud: you will pay by borrowing”, means getting out of one difficulty by getting into another.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its Classical meaning is financial: the raising of a new loan to pay an old one, and hence any loan, as in Cicero's phrase versūram facere, “to borrow”.^[3][2] Cicero says the cities had two ways of raising money, by a loan or by a tax,^[2][5] and Tacitus records that such borrowing was forbidden.^[3] Seneca uses it figuratively.^[3] The literal sense of turning appears in Varro (the turning of leaves);^[3][6] Columella and Palladius use it of the place where a ploughman turns at the end of a furrow,^[3][2] Vitruvius of a corner or angle of a building or a bend in a conduit,^[3][6] and Manilius of a cycle of changes in astrology.^[2][5] In Medieval Latin it could mean an open field.^[7][4]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence has the proverb vorsūrā solvēs.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of borrowing to pay debts.^[3][2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of turning.^[3][4]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a corner in architecture.^[3][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of the turning place at the end of a furrow.^[2][4]
• Medieval Latin – It is used of an open field.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A turning round, rotation.^[2][3]
2. The passing through a cycle of changes.^[2]
3. The place where a ploughman turns at the end of a furrow.^[2][3]
4. An angle, corner or bend, in architecture or a conduit.^[2][3]
5. The borrowing of money to pay a debt; a loan.^[2][3]
6. (Medieval Latin) An open field.^[7]

Related words

• vertō
• versus¹

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill