Etymologically
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aggravo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈaɡ.ɡra.woː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaɡ.ɡra.vo][1]

Forms

aggravō (present infinitive aggravāre, perfect active aggravāvī, supine aggravātum); first conjugation[1] Also spelled adgravō.[2]

Etymology

It is from ad- and gravō “to weigh down”, from gravis “heavy”.[2][1][3][4] De Vaan traces ⟨gravis⟩ to Proto-Italic *gʷra(w)u-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short think it was perhaps formed by Livy, who uses it often; it first appears under Augustus and only in prose.[6] Köbler dates Livy 59 BC–17 AD.[7]

Semantic evolution

It meant to weigh down, as in Columella; to make a weight greater, increase the force of a blow or the speed of a fall, as in Pliny the Elder; and to make conditions worse, aggravate, as in Livy.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to make heavy, make worse, burden.[8] Through Old French agrever it gave English aggrieve about 1300, and its participle aggravātus gave English aggravate in the 1520s, first “to burden”.[4]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it.[2][6][7]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of weighing down.[2][7]
  • c. 1300 – English aggrieve is recorded.[4]
  • 1520s – English aggravate is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To weigh down, burden.[2][8]
  2. To increase (a weight, force or speed).[2]
  3. To make worse, aggravate.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson