abrogo

Forms

abrogō (present infinitive abrogāre, perfect active abrogāvī, supine abrogātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- + rogō (“to ask; to propose a law”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan takes rogō as a verb formed from a noun or adjective Proto-Italic *rogo- (“request; stretching out”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃roǵ-o- (“stretching”), perhaps of the arms stretched out in begging.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a term of public law: to repeal a law entirely.^[6][2] Varro asks whether old laws are not often repealed and give way to new ones.^[2] Lewis & Short contrast it with dērogō, to repeal a law in part, and obrogō, to pass a law that counters another.^[6] By extension it is to disregard or repudiate, as the wise reject many decrees of the people in Seneca.^[2] It is also to cancel an office or honour, as a command in the orator Annius, and to take something away from someone: in Livy a law that takes away credit destroys all human society.^[2] Church Latin glosses it to revoke, abrogate, annul.^[7] English abrogate comes from its past participle, from the 1520s.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[4][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of repealing old laws.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of taking away credit.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of rejecting decrees.^[2][5]
• 1520s – English abrogate.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To repeal a law entirely, abrogate, annul.^[2][6][1][7]
2. To disregard, repudiate;^[2] abrogātus, obsolete.^[2]
3. To cancel, revoke an office or honour.^[2][1]
4. To take away from, deprive of;^[2][1] fidem abrogāre, to take away credit.^[2][1]

Word family

• abrogātiō
• abrogātus

Related words

• arrogō
• corrogō
• dērogō
• ērogō
• interrogō
• irrogō
• obrogō
• perrogō
• praerogō
• prōrogō
• rogō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson