versura Latin · revision 33476

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=190–159 BC, Terence|origins=la vertō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Ecclesiastical: /βaˈsura/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''versūra''' ''f'' (genitive versūrae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|vertō|-ūra|t1=to turn]], made from the stem of the participle ⟨versus⟩ and also spelt ⟨vorsūra⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) The verb goes back to [[itc-pro|*wertō]] and [[ine-pro|*wert-|t=to turn]].^(Wiktionary) The sense “borrowing” was explained by Festus as a change of creditor: those who borrowed did not take the money home but used it to pay another lender, and so “turned” their creditor.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it first in Terence,^(Köbler 2010) whose proverb ''in eōdem lutō haesitās: vorsūrā solvēs'', “you are stuck in the same mud: you will pay by borrowing”, means getting out of one difficulty by getting into another.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its Classical meaning is financial: the raising of a new loan to pay an old one, and hence any loan, as in Cicero's phrase ''versūram facere'', “to borrow”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Cicero says the cities had two ways of raising money, by a loan or by a tax,^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) and Tacitus records that such borrowing was forbidden.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Seneca uses it figuratively.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The literal sense of turning appears in Varro (the turning of leaves);^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Columella and Palladius use it of the place where a ploughman turns at the end of a furrow,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Vitruvius of a corner or angle of a building or a bend in a conduit,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and Manilius of a cycle of changes in astrology.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) In Medieval Latin it could mean an open field.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence has the proverb ''vorsūrā solvēs''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of borrowing to pay debts.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of turning.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a corner in architecture.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it of the turning place at the end of a furrow.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Medieval Latin – It is used of an open field.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|turning]] round, rotation.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The passing through a cycle of changes.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The place where a ploughman turns at the end of a [[m|en|furrow]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # An angle, [[m|en|corner]] or bend, in architecture or a conduit.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The [[m|en|borrowing]] of money to pay a [[m|en|debt]]; a loan.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An open field.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vertō]]

+ * [[versus#1]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}