refragor Latin · revision 35886

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Pomponius (Atellan farce)|origins=la suffrāgor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [rɛˈfraː.ɡɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [reˈfraː.ɡor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''refrāgor''' (present infinitive refrāgārī, perfect active refrāgātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|suffrāgor|t=to vote for, support]], formed by putting [[m|la|re-|t=back, against]] in place of the prefix of that verb.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The origin of the base [[m|la|suffrāgium|t=vote]] is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan takes the family to rest on a verb or noun ⟨*sub-frāg-⟩ “support” from [[itc-pro|*-frāg-]]; since the oldest meanings all concern voting for or against a candidate, he finds some support for the view, argued in detail by Vaahtera, that it belongs to [[m|la|frangō|t=to break]], with the voters shouting their support, though [[m|la|fragor|t=din]] is not found before Lucretius.^(de Vaan 2008) He rejects as too fanciful Szemerényi's derivation from a root meaning “hind part”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan's first author is Pomponius,^(de Vaan 2008) who uses the active form in a line from his comedies: ''refrāgant prīmō, suffrāgābunt post'', “at first they vote against, later they will vote for”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ L&S calls it a term of public life, used of opposing a candidate or someone seeking something.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In the ''Pro Murena'' Cicero says that a law had worked against a candidacy, and elsewhere that he does not want to seem to oppose a close friend.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From this it came to mean acting against anyone's interests, as in Curtius and Vitruvius.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ L&S notes that the wider sense “resist, militate against”, with a thing as subject, is not in Cicero:^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder says a kind of lettuce works against sexual desire, and Quintilian speaks of a talent that does not resist.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The jurists use it of legal points or of a person's will that stand in the way.^(OLD 2012) Köbler lists it in Christian and early medieval texts, among them councils, charters, formulas and the Lex Ribuaria.^(Köbler 2010) Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for “oppose, resist, contest, object”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of opposing candidates.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of opposing an honour.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 20 BC–AD 30 – Velleius uses it without an object.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a plant acting against desire.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 212 AD – Papinian uses it of legal points that stand in the way.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To vote against, [[m|en|oppose]] (a candidate); to work against the interests of.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To act to someone's disadvantage.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(of things)'' To [[m|en|militate]] against, [[m|en|resist]], stand in the way of.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(law)'' To be an obstacle (to a claim or a will).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ It is the opposite of [[suffrāgor]], ^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Pomponius plays on the pair.^(OLD 2012) An active form ''refrāgō'' is also found.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}