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aggero

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word aggero

aggero1 bring, carry to

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (gerō)
Etymology tree of aggero1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin gero
Latin digero
Latin congero
Latin congestus
Latin egero
Latin ingero
Latin morigerus
Latin aggero

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈaɡ.ɡɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈad.d͡ʒe.ro][1]

Forms

aggerō (present infinitive aggerere, perfect active aggessī, supine aggestum); third conjugation[1] Also spelled adgerō.[2][3][4]

Etymology

The verb “bring” is from Latin ad- (“to, towards”) + gerō (“to carry, bear”).[2][4][1] De Vaan lists it, from Plautus on, among the compounds of gerō, which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *h₂ǵ-es- (“to carry”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL counts the gerundive aggerunda three times in Plautus,[4] as in the Poenulus: aggerunda … aqua sunt viri duo defessi, “two men are worn out with fetching water”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to bring, carry or fetch something to a place: Varro has small fish brought in, and Cicero mud and silt carried up.[2][4][6] Mixed with the first-conjugation verb from agger it came to mean to heap or pile up: Caesar has earth heaped against piles to hold the water, and Virgil earth heaped on a tomb.[2][4] Figuratively it is to heap on or lavish, as Tacitus has accusations piled even on the innocent, and Seneca uses it of feeding flames.[2][6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses aggerunda aqua, water to be fetched.[2][4][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of small fish being brought in.[4][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of earth heaped up against piles.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of charges heaped on the innocent.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To bring, carry or fetch (to or up to a place).[2][3][6]
  2. To push close up against something.[2]
  3. To heap or pile up (on or into); to accumulate.[2][4]
  4. (figurative) To heap on, lavish (accusations, benefits); to feed (flames).[2][6]

Word family

  • aggestus
  • aggestiō

aggero2 heap up

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin (agger)
Etymology tree of aggero2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin agger
Latin aggero

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈaɡ.ɡɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈad.d͡ʒe.ro][1]

Forms

aggerō (present infinitive aggerāre, perfect active aggerāvī, supine aggerātum); first conjugation[1] Also spelled adgerō.[2][3][4]

Etymology

The verb “heap up” is from Latin agger (“heap of earth, rampart”), a first-conjugation verb made from the noun.[2][4][1] The grammarian Eutyches already explained that the noun comes from the third-conjugation verb and this verb from the noun.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first quotation is from Virgil's Georgics, where Tisiphone heaps up bodies dissolving in foul decay (aggerat … cadavera).[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is to pile things into a heap, as Virgil has prizes heaped up, and Tacitus bones scattered or heaped.[2][4] It is also to build up a road or a structure by piling material, as Tacitus has a causeway once raised by Lucius Domitius, and Vitruvius bricks easily built up.[2][6] Columella uses it of earthing up trees and plants, and of filling or covering something plentifully.[2][6] Phaedrus has a miser adding pennies to his estate.[2][4]

Figuratively it is to reinforce or intensify: Virgil has aggerat iras, heaps up anger, and Silius uses it of exaggerating disasters in speech.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of heaped-up corpses and prizes, and of mounting anger.[2][4][7]
  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it of adding money to an estate.[2][7]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of earthing up trees.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a causeway built up through marshes.[2][6][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To heap up (something against or over another thing); to add by accumulation.[2]
  2. To pile up, form into a heap.[2][3]
  3. To build up (a road or structure) by piling material.[2][6]
  4. (agriculture) To earth up (a tree or plant).[2][6]
  5. To fill or cover plentifully (with something).[2][8]
  6. To reinforce, intensify; to exaggerate.[2][6]

Word family

  • adaggerō
  • aggerātim
  • aggerātiō
  • circumaggerō
  • coaggerō
  • exaggerō
  • superaggerō

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 o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Aggero.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/aggero. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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