discursus Latin · revision 32458

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 50 BC, Hirtius|origins=ine-pro *kr̥s-e/o-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''discursus''' ''m'' (genitive discursūs); fourth declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|discurrō|-tus|t1=to run about]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) [[m|la|discurrō]] is a compound of [[m|la|currō|t=to run]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*korse/o-|t=to run]] and [[ine-pro|*kr̥s-e/o-|t=to run]], comparing [[sga|carr|t=vehicle]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it from Hirtius on, who tells how men fled in all directions with great shouting and running about.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the action of running off in different directions, scattering: Livy fears that soldiers greedy for plunder could not be kept from it.^(OLD 2012) It is also running this way and that, as in Ovid, Quintilian and Juvenal, and of things, free movement, as of a ship between the lines in Livy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder uses it of a pattern of wavy lines, and Seneca of bustling activity.^(OLD 2012) The plural appears from Ovid on.^(TLL) In Late Latin it came to mean conversation, and in Medieval Latin reasoning.^(Etymonline) Medieval documents also use it of an official tour or circuit, of traffic, and of the course of the stars.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 50 BC – Hirtius of men scattering in flight.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of soldiers dispersing for plunder.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca the Younger of bustling activity.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – English [[m|en|discourse]] is borrowed through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A running off in different directions, dispersal.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A running to and fro, running about; free movement.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A pattern of wavy lines.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Bustling activity.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' [[m|en|conversation|alt=Conversation]].^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An official tour, circuit; traffic; the course of the heavenly bodies.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[discurro|alt=discurrō]]

+ * [[cursus]]

+ * [[en|discourse]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}