defringo Latin · revision 34670

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *bʰr-n-ǵ-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēfringō''' (present infinitive dēfringere, perfect active dēfrēgī, supine dēfrāctum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dē-|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]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it first in Cato,^(TLL) who, in the ''De agri cultura'', tells the reader to break the neck off an amphora, ''amphoram dēfrāctō collō''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is used of breaking off a part of something: Varro and Virgil of plants and shoots, Cicero of a branch of a tree and of a sprig, and Virgil of the iron head broken off a spear.^(Lewis & Short 1879) With an immaterial object it means to take something away, impair: Seneca speaks of a good that is never lessened, ''quod numquam dēfringitur'', and Apuleius uses it the same way.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The TLL notes that the manuscripts of Plautus give ⟨dēfringō⟩ in two places where editors read ''diffringō''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato writes of breaking off the neck of an amphora.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

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

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of breaking off a branch.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a good that is never lessened.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To remove by breaking, [[m|en|break off]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To break to pieces.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To take away from, lessen.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[frangō]]

+ * [[cōnfringō]]

+ * [[effringō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}