refringo Latin · revision 32982

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *bʰr-n-ǵ-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [rɛˈfrɪŋ.ɡoː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [reˈfriŋ.ɡo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''refringō''' (present infinitive refringere, perfect active refrēgī, supine refrāctum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ A recomposed form ''refrangō'' appears in old manuscripts of the Vulgate and of Augustine.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|re-|frangō|t2=to break]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|frangō]] to [[itc-pro|*frang-]] and the nasal present [[ine-pro|*bʰr-n-ǵ-|t=to break]], comparing [[goh|brehhan|t=to break]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first quotations are in Plautus, who has someone break open all the storerooms inside and unlock the cupboard,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and in Ennius' ''Annals'', where Discord breaks open the iron-bound doorposts and gates of war.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is to break open doors and gates by force, or to force open a room or enclosure: Caesar and Livy use it in the same way.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also to break a thing by pressing against it, as Catullus' wandering foot breaking the brushwood and Columella's clod broken up into dust.^(OLD 2012) Of attacking forces it is to break or repel them: Horace says the house of Priam does not break the warlike Achaeans with Hector's might, and Caesar posts cavalry to break the force of a river.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it to break up or open.^(Stelten 1995) In modern scientific Latin it means to refract light.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of storerooms broken open.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of the gates of war.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar of breaking the force of a river.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of breaking an attacking army.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|break]] open (doors, gates); to force open (a room, enclosure).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # To break by pressure, break back; to break up.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To break or [[m|en|repel]] (an attacking force, or a physical force such as a current).^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(New Latin, physics)'' To [[m|en|refract]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[refractus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[frango|alt=frangō]]

+ * [[perfringo|alt=perfringō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}