retento Latin · revision 33424

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la teneō}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''retentō''' (present infinitive retentāre, perfect active retentāvī, supine retentātum); first conjugation^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|retineō|-tō|t1=to hold back, keep]], a frequentative.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) The base verb is a compound of [[m|la|teneō|t=to hold]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*t(e)nē-]] and [[ine-pro|*tn-eh₁-|t=to hold]], a stative present of the root [[ine-pro|*ten-|t=to stretch]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's first quotation is from Plautus: ''cur me retentas? — quia tui amans abeuntis egeo'', “why do you hold me back? — because I love you and miss you as you go”.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means to keep hold of or hold fast, as of reins in Ovid,^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) and to hold back or restrain: Virgil uses it of a snake held back by its wounded part, Livy of a column of troops, and Ovid of a driver checking his horses.^(OLD 2012) Lucretius has the elements keep the sky apart from the earth,^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) and the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' uses it reflexively of a man who keeps himself silent.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Tacitus uses it of keeping legions in a place and of guards keeping money,^(OLD 2012) and a poem of Cicero's has the divine mind preserving the senses and lives of men, though the OLD notes that this may be the other verb, ''retemptō''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively, Valerius Flaccus has a phalanx holding back its anger.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short call it rare and absent from Cicero's prose.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to hold back or hold fast.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of holding someone back.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of keeping the sky apart from the earth.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of holding back a column.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a wounded snake.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of detaining legions.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To keep hold of, [[m|en|hold fast]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # To hold back, [[m|en|restrain]]; to keep a feeling in check; to keep apart.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To keep in a place, [[m|en|detain]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # To [[m|en|retain]] possession of; to retain the loyalty of.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[retentator]]

+ * [[retentatrix]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[retineō]]

+ * [[teneō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A different verb, [[retemptō]] “to try again, feel again”, from ⟨re-⟩ and [[temptō]], is often spelled ''retentō'' as well;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) it is mainly a poetic word of the Augustan age, used by Ovid.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Georges and Gaffiot give the two numbered entries under one spelling, while the OLD files the second under ''retemptō''.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}