Etymologically
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Gorgo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɡɔr.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɡɔr.ɡo][1]

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

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