ὀργάω

Forms

ὀργάω (orgáō) ^[1] Mostly in the present; a perfect participle ὠργηκότες (ōrgēkótes) in Josephus and a pluperfect passive ὤργητο (ṓrgēto) in Hesychius.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ὀργή (orgḗ, “impulse, temperament; anger”) + -άω (-áō), probably as a denominative verb.^[4][5][3][1] Beekes traces the family to Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to swell with juice, strength, anger”).^[4][6]

The noun matches Sanskrit ऊर्जा (ūrjā́, “nourishment, strength”) exactly in form, but the Sanskrit word is an enlargement of older ऊर्ज् (ū́rj-), so the identity is secondary.^[4][5] In meaning the Sanskrit fits the verb, which kept the concrete sense of swelling with sap, better than the noun.^[4][5][3] The noun's shift to “anger” has a parallel in Old Irish ferc (“anger”).^[4][5][3] Szemerényi rejected the comparison and explained the noun instead as a shortened verbal derivative of ὀρέγω (orégō, “to stretch out”), a view Chantraine calls hazardous.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aeschylus' Libation Bearers, with an infinitive, “to be eager to learn”;^[2][7] the concrete sense, of fruit swelling as it ripens, appears in Herodotus.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant to swell with nourishing sap: Herodotus says of fruit that it swells and grows ripe for cutting, Xenophon uses it of crops, Theophrastus of soil and trees ready to bear and sprout, and the Hippocratic writers of a swollen wound.^[2][8][4] Of people and animals it meant to swell with desire: Aristophanes uses it of men's lust, and Aristotle of animals in heat.^[2][8][3]

From there it came to mean simply to be eager or excited: Thucydides uses it of the Spartans' eagerness and of men judging under the sway of passion.^[2][8] Plutarch says it of a girl ripe for marriage and of a horse eager to run.^[8] The late derivative ὀργασμός (orgasmós), formed after σπασμός (spasmós),^[4][5] passed through French or Modern Latin into English as orgasm in the 1680s.^[9]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it with an infinitive for eagerness to learn.^[2][7][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of ripening fruit, Thucydides of eagerness and passion, and the Hippocratic writers of a turgid wound.^[2][8][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of sexual desire, and Xenophon of ripe crops.^[2][8][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of animals in heat.^[2][10]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it of soil and trees ready to bear.^[2][10]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of a girl ripe for marriage.^[8][10]
• 1680s – English takes orgasm from its derivative.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of soil, plants and fruit) To swell with sap, ripen; with an infinitive, to be ripe for (cutting, picking).^[2][8]
2. (medicine, of a wound) To be turgid, swollen.^[2]
3. (of people) To swell with lust, (of animals) to be in heat.^[2][8][1]
4. To be eager or excited; with an infinitive, to long to do something; of a girl, to be ripe for marriage.^[2][8]

Word family

• ὀργασμός (orgasmós)

Related words

• ὀργητύς (orgētús)
• ὀργή (orgḗ)
• ὀργάς (orgás)
• English orgasm

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ a b c d e f g Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge