dispello Latin · revision 33513

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *pl-n(e)-h₂-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [dɪsˈpɛl.loː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [disˈpɛl.lo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dispellō''' (present infinitive dispellere, perfect active dispulī, supine dispulsum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dis-|pellō|t1=apart|t2=to drive, push]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan traces [[m|la|pellō]] to [[itc-pro|*pelna-]] and [[ine-pro|*pl-n(e)-h₂-|t=to approach]], explaining the meaning by a shift from bringing something closer to pushing it;^(de Vaan 2008) [[xum|ampentu]], used of an act at the sacrifice, has the same nasal present.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[grc|πίλναμαι|tr=pílnamai|t=to approach]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the TLL date it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) but the TLL notes that forms of the present stem are rare, found only a few times in Seneca, Statius, Serenus Sammonicus and Ammianus.^(TLL) The OLD's earliest example is Cicero's ''pecudēs quae dispulsae suī generis sequuntur gregēs'', “cattle that, when scattered, follow herds of their own kind”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is to drive apart or scatter by force, of animals, people and ships.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucretius uses it of matter scattered from its union.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively it means to drive away a condition: in Cicero, philosophy removes darkness from the mind as from the eyes.^(OLD 2012) In Virgil Sleep parts the air and scatters the shadows.^(OLD 2012) Servius explains it as “separated” and notes the difference between the prefixes ⟨dī-⟩ and ⟨dē-⟩.^(TLL) Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – First attested, in Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of scattered matter.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of scattered cattle and of darkness driven from the mind.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of ships scattered by a storm and of shadows.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English borrows it as [[m|en|dispel]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To drive apart, [[m|en|scatter]], [[m|en|disperse]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To drive away, [[m|en|dispel]] (a condition, a feeling).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To part, divide (the air, the waves).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dispulsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[aspellō]]

+ * [[dēpellō]]

+ * [[expellō]]

+ * [[impellō]]

+ * [[interpellō]]

+ * [[pellō]]

+ * [[perpellō]]

+ * [[prōpellō]]

+ * [[compellō#1]]

+ * [[appellō#1]]

+ * [[en|dispel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}