detestor Latin · revision 32303

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Twelve Tables|origins=la testis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [deːˈtɛs.tɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [deˈtɛs.tor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dētestor''' (present infinitive dētestārī, perfect active dētestātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^(Wiktionary)

+ The perfect participle ''dētestātus'' is often passive in sense, “cursed”.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dē-|testor|t2=to call to witness]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|testor]] is made from [[m|la|testis|t=witness]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*tri-sto-]] and [[ine-pro|*trito-sth₂-o-|t=third standing by]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan cites a form dētestātum, glossed “announced by solemn testimony”, from the Twelve Tables.^(de Vaan 2008) In literature the OLD's earliest examples are in Caesar and Cicero.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the language of religion it is to curse someone while calling the gods to witness: Caesar has a man calling down every curse on Ambiorix, and Livy calls down threats and dangers on the heads of others.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From cursing came the sense of abhorring or loathing, as in Cicero's “I do not know the cause, I abhor the outcome”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Cicero also prays the gods to avert and ward off an omen.^(OLD 2012) In law it meant to give notice to someone absent, and Servius Sulpicius wrote a book on renouncing family rites, apparently those of a man about to be adopted.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of abhorring an outcome and of averting an omen.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar of calling down curses on an enemy.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1530s – English [[m|en|detest]] is borrowed through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To call down a solemn [[m|en|curse]] on, [[m|en|execrate]]; to call down a curse or threat.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To express or feel abhorrence for, [[m|en|detest]], loathe.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To avert or ward off by entreaty.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(law)'' To give formal notice to someone absent; to renounce family rites.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dētestābilis]]

+ * [[dētestātiō]]

+ * [[detestator]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein sets it beside [[abominor]], to recoil from something as an evil omen, and [[exsecror]], to curse a guilty person out of human society: dētestor is to ward off an evil by appealing to the gods against a dreaded person or thing.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}