retrorsum Latin · revision 36324

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=la retrō, ine-pro *uert-e/o-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''retrōrsum''' (not comparable)^(Wiktionary)

+ It also appears as ''retrōrsus'', the form under which the OLD lists it, and as ''retrōvorsum'' and ''retrōversus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ A grammarian cites the form ''retrōsum''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a contraction of ⟨retrōvorsum⟩, from [[m|la|retrō|t=backwards]] and [[m|la|versum|alt=vorsum|t=towards]], the old form of the adverb from [[m|la|vertō|t=to turn]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Georges 1913) De Vaan traces that verb to [[ine-pro|*uert-e/o-|t=to turn]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Lucretius on,^(de Vaan 2008) who says that an image striking a mirror is thrown straight back (''rēcta retrōrsum'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In classical Latin it means backwards or back the way one came.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Horace has ''retrōrsum vēla dare'', “to sail back”,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) and Hannibal's threats are thrown back in one of his odes.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero uses it for “the other way round”: air turns into ether, and then ether back into air.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Quintilian uses it of words in the reverse order, and the jurists of reckoning back in time.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ It stayed in use in Christian and medieval Latin:^(Stelten 1995)^(Köbler 2010) Bede has the sun turned back,^(DMLBS) and medieval glosses render it with Old High German words for “backwards”.^(Köbler 2010) English word lists gloss it with ''bakward''.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of an image thrown back by a mirror.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for “in reverse order”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace writes ''retrōrsum vēla dare''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of the order of words.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 8th century – Bede uses it of the sun turned back.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|backwards|alt=Backwards]], towards the rear.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # Back the way one has come; back again.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # In [[m|en|reverse]] order, the other way round.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(law)'' Back in time, retroactively.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}