Gorgo

Forms

Gorgō f (genitive Gorgonis or Gorgūs); variously declined, third declension, fourth declension^[1] Also Gorgōn;^[2][3] Prudentius has Gorgona.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Γοργώ (Gorgṓ),^[1][2][4] the name of a female monster with a petrifying look.^[5] Etymonline derives the Greek name from γοργός (gorgós, “grim, fierce, terrible”), a word of unknown origin;^[6] Beekes reports Frisk's rejection of the cognates proposed for it in Celtic, Slavic and Armenian.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in the Verrine orations, in the 1st century BC, of a Gorgon's head.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The Gorgons were the three daughters of Phorcus, winged maidens with snakes for hair whose look turned people to stone; the name was used above all of Medusa, whose head Perseus cut off and Minerva wore on her shield or breastplate.^[2][7] The poets, Virgil and Ovid among them, used both the singular and the plural Gorgones.^[2][3]

In Medieval Latin Osbern of Gloucester glossed Gorgones as prostitutes, and Gervase of Tilbury gave the name to an African people with goats' horns and feet.^[8] English took gorgon in the late 14th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions a Gorgon's head in the Verrine orations.^[2][3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil names the Gorgon in the Aeneid.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid tells of Medusa in the Metamorphoses.^[2][4]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius has the form Gorgona.^[2][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows gorgon.^[6]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. A Gorgon, one of the three snake-haired daughters of Phorcus.^[2][7][3]
2. Medusa in particular, whose head Perseus cut off.^[2][7]
3. The Gorgon's head on the shield of Minerva.^[7][3]
4. (Medieval Latin, plural) Prostitutes.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) A member of an African people with goats' horns and feet.^[8]

Word family

• Gorgoneus

Related words

• English gorgon

Usage notes

A separate, rare adverb gorgō (also corgō), “reliably, with confidence”, is known from Paulus' epitome of Festus and in glossaries.^[7][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b 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
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press