Etymologically
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abrogo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈab.rɔ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈab.ro.ɡo][1]

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It is a term of public law: to repeal a law entirely.[6][2] Varro asks whether old laws are not often repealed and give way to new ones.[2] Lewis & Short contrast it with dērogō, to repeal a law in part, and obrogō, to pass a law that counters another.[6] By extension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

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