versutus

Forms

versūtus (feminine versūta, neuter versūtum, comparative versūtior); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin versus (“turned”) + -ūtus, formed like astūtus.^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of vertō (“to turn”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *wert-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *uert-e/o- (“to turn”), cognate with Sanskrit वर्तते (vártate, “turns”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it first in Livius Andronicus.^[4] Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It describes someone full of stratagems or shifts, wily or cunning, usually in a bad sense.^[2][1] Lewis & Short also give a good sense, adroit or clever: Cicero calls people versūtī whose minds turn quickly.^[3] Of schemes it means crafty: Cicero says a case should be judged by fairness, not by clever and crafty law, and calls malice a crafty and deceitful way of doing harm.^[2] Grattius uses it of following the twisting tracks of a hare.^[2] Döderlein groups it with astūtus and callidus as words for cunning.^[6] Stelten gives "crafty, subtle" for Church Latin.^[7] The old spelling is vorsūtus.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of crafty law and of quick minds.^[2][3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of shifts, wily, cunning, crafty (usually in a bad sense).^[2][1][7]
2. (in a good sense) Adroit, versatile, clever.^[3][1]
3. (of schemes) Crafty, deceitful.^[2]

Word family

• versūtia

Related words

• vertō
• astūtus
• callidus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson