Etymologically
Log in

abigo

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word abigo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₂eǵ-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin ago
French agir
Latin actrix
Latin ambigo
Latin actio
French action
Latin abigo
Latin dego
Latin perago
Latin adigo
Latin cogo
Latin activus
English active
English activist
Latin actus
English act
Latin actuosus
Latin actor
English actor
English actress
French acteur
Latin subigo
Latin circumago
Latin agito
French agiter
Latin exagito
Latin redigo
Latin agilis

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈa.bɪ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.bi.ɡo][1]

Forms

abigō (present infinitive abigere, perfect active abēgī, supine abāctum); third conjugation[1] Glossaries also have abagō.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- + agō (“to drive”), with the vowel weakened in the compound.[3][2][1] The verb agō goes back to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- (“to do, act”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “to drive, lead”) and Sanskrit अजति (ájati, “drives”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first examples are in Plautus, as “I will drive him away from the house as soon as he comes”, and in Ennius' “drive away the plague from me”.[5][3]

Semantic evolution

It is first to drive away cattle, as Varro's flocks of sheep driven from Apulia to Samnium for the summer, and to drive off or steal them, as in Cicero's charge that Verres had a man's herds of mares carried off.[3][5] It is also to drive or frighten away, as in Cicero's “put a stick beside me to drive off the beasts”, to reject a friend, and to ward off dangers.[3] Of conditions it is to dispel, as in Plautus' “drive away your weariness”, and abigere partum is to cause an abortion, in Cicero.[3] Pliny the Elder uses it of a magnet that repels iron, and Paulus' abridgement of Festus says magistrates who were forced to lay down office were called abacti.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “banish, drive away”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of driving someone away.[5][7]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of warding off a plague.[3][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of driving flocks.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of stealing cattle and of abortion.[3][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a magnet repelling iron.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drive away cattle; to drive off, steal them.[3][5][1]
  2. To drive away, frighten off, banish; to reject; to ward off.[3][5][1]
  3. To repel.[3]
  4. To deter; to remove from office.[3][1]
  5. To dispel, relieve;[3][5] abigere partum, to cause an abortion.[3][5][1]

Word family

  • abāctiō
  • abāctor
  • abāctus
  • abiga
  • abāctius
  • abagmentum
  • abigeus
  • abigeātor
  • abigeātus
  • agō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Abigo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/abigo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·