Etymologically
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aegresco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ae̯ˈɡreːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈɡrɛs.ko][1]

Forms

aegrēscō (present infinitive aegrēscere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems[1]

Etymology

It is an inchoative, from Latin aegreō (“to be sick”) + -scō,[2][1][3] and that verb is derived from aeger (“sick”).[4][5] The grammarian Charisius already gave it as an inchoative made from the adjective, noting that such verbs from nouns have no perfect.[4] De Vaan traces the adjective to Proto-Italic *aigro- and Proto-Indo-European *h2eig-ro-.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Lucretius on,[5] who uses it of falling ill (morbīs aegrēscimus īsdem, “we fall sick of the same diseases”) and of the mind falling sick.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Elder writes that ravens fall sick for sixty days.[2] Virgil uses it of a state of mind that grows worse: Turnus' violence is aggravated by the attempt to heal it (aegrēscitque medendō).[2][6] Statius uses it of mental distress and of fretting at good fortune,[2] and Tacitus of someone made ill by long anxiety.[2][3]

In Late Latin it was used of the soul (Lactantius), of plants and fruit trees, and often by Ennodius and Macrobius of patients.[4]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of falling sick, in body and mind.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of passion growing worse.[2][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of ravens.[2][7]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of mental distress.[2][7]
  • c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it of the soul.[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To become ill, fall sick.[2][8]
  2. To suffer mental distress; to fret, be dissatisfied.[2][3]
  3. Of feelings: to grow worse, be aggravated.[2][6]

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 m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press