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adigo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word adigo

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 actio
French action
Latin agito
French agiter
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 redigo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈa.dɪ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.di.ɡo][1]

Forms

adigō (present infinitive adigere, perfect active adēgī, supine adāctum); third conjugation[1] Plautus has an old subjunctive adaxint for adēgerint.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ad- (“to”) + agō (“to drive”).[2][1][4] De Vaan traces ⟨agō⟩ to Proto-Italic *age/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”), and compares Old Irish aigid (“drives”);[5] the TLL sets beside it the compound ad·aig (“drives, impels”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it of driving animals: quis hās hūc ovīs adēgit?, “who drove these sheep here?”, in the Bacchides.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is to drive cattle or people to a place, and to force under the yoke or into a shape, as Propertius' pine forced into the form of a prow.[2][3] It is to bring near, to bring up ships (Tacitus), to shoot a missile so that it reaches its target, as Caesar's missiles that could not reach the high ships, to drive a stake into the ground (Cato), and to plunge a weapon in, as Lucretius' spear driven deep, or inflict a wound (Virgil).[2] Figuratively it is to drive someone to an action, as Plautus' “may the gods drive me to hang myself”, and in law to compel a person to go before an arbitrator (Cicero).[2][3]

Church Latin glosses it “impel, drive, drive to”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of driving sheep.[2][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of driving in a stake.[2][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a weapon driven in.[2][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of hurling missiles.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of compelling someone before an arbitrator.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drive (cattle, persons) to a place.[2][1][3]
  2. To force (under the yoke, into a shape).[2]
  3. To bring near; to bring up (ships).[2]
  4. To shoot, hurl (a missile) home.[2][1]
  5. To drive in (a stake, wedge); to thrust (a weapon) in; to inflict (a wound).[2]
  6. To drive, impel (to an action); (law) to compel (to go before an arbitrator).[2][1][7]

Word family

  • adāctiō
  • adactus
  • trānsadigō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes cōgere, to compel by force and power, from adigere, to bring someone to something by reasons and motives.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Adigo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/adigo. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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