Etymologically
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agaso

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aˈɡaː.soː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈɡaː.s̬o][1]

Forms

agāsō m (genitive agāsōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[1][2] The TLL thinks it is probably connected with agō (“to drive”),[2] as do Lewis & Short, Georges and Köbler;[3][4][5] the OLD compares equisō (“groom”).[6] Wiktionary suggests that it may come from Etruscan.[1] Paulus' epitome of Festus explains the word as those who drive horses.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Ennius and Plautus on: Ennius has the phrase scitus agaso, “a skilful groom”,[2][7] and in Plautus a character says he will be his own companion, attendant, horse, groom and armour-bearer (egomet mihi comes, calator, equos, agaso, armiger).[2]

Semantic evolution

It names a groom or stable boy, and anyone who drives a horse or ass.[6][4] Livy uses it of the grooms who travelled with an army and of grooms leading horses,[2][3] and Pliny the Elder of a painting by Athenion of Maroneia of a groom with his horse.[2][3] Horace uses it in contempt for a clumsy servant who slips and breaks a dish,[6][4] and Persius for a groom not worth three asses (hic Dama est non tresis agaso).[6]

Servius calls guides of horses what “we commonly call agasones”,[2] and a late gloss explains them as keepers of horses whom country people call marscalci.[2] In medieval Latin it is a stable officer or marshal.[8] It survives in Sardinian basone.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in a list of attendants.[2][5]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.[2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a clumsy servant.[6][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of army grooms.[2][5]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius uses it in contempt.[6][5]
  • c. 400 AD – Servius says it is the common word for grooms.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A groom, stable boy; one who drives a horse or ass.[6][3]
  2. (contemptuous) A serving man, a lackey.[6][3]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A stable officer, a marshal.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill