despero Latin · revision 6298
16 Oct 2026, 06:34 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Cicero|origins=la spērō}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [deːsˈpeː.roː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [desˈpɛː.ro]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''dēspērō''' (present infinitive dēspērāre, perfect active dēspērāvī, supine dēspērātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[dē-|t=without]] and [[spērō]] “to hope”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's first citations are from Cicero, of despairing.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Transitively it meant to give up as hopeless, despair of, as Cicero's giving up hope of office, of doctors to despair of curing a disease, as in Seneca, and to give up hope of doing something, as in Ovid.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Intransitively it meant to lose hope, despair, of or for something, as in Cicero.^(OLD 2012) Lewis and Short call it frequent and Classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to despair.^(Stelten 1995) It survives in Italian ''disperare'', and Spanish ''desperar'' is a borrowing.^(Wiktionary) Through Old French ''desperer'' it is the source of [[en|despair]] in the mid-14th century, [[en|desperate]] comes from its participle ''dēspērātus'' about 1400, and [[en|desperado]] is a mock-Spanish form of about 1600.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of despairing.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it with an infinitive.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of incurable diseases.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * mid-14th century – English ''despair'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Verb===
+ # To give up as hopeless, [[m|en|despair]] of.^(OLD 2012)
+ # To give up hope of curing.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(intransitive)'' To lose hope, despair.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[dēspērābilis]]
+ * [[dēspērātiō]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[spērō]]
+ * [[en|despair]]
+ * [[en|desperate]]
+ * [[en|desperado]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}