aggrego

Forms

aggregō (present infinitive aggregāre, perfect active aggregāvī, supine aggregātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + gregō (“to gather into a flock”), and that verb is made on grex (“flock, herd”).^[2][3][1] The epitome of Festus explains it as “to lead to the flock”.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cicero, who uses it of people joining or being counted with a group: in his speech for Murena he says ego tē semper in nostrum numerum adgregāre soleō, “I always count you among our number”.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it a prose word, rarer than adiungō.^[4] Caesar and Livy use the reflexive for joining a side or an alliance, Velleius and Tacitus the passive of men joining a party,^[2][3] and Valerius Maximus and Seneca use it of counting someone among a class.^[2] Cicero also uses it of implicating someone in a charge and of contributing to another's honour.^[2] The jurists use it of lumping sums or sureties together.^[2]

The absolute use, “to gather, assemble”, belongs to later centuries.^[3] Medieval writers used it of admitting members, gathering an assembly and joining lands.^[6][7] English aggregate comes from its past participle, about 1400.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of counting someone among a group.^[2][3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses the reflexive of joining an alliance.^[2][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of lumping sureties together.^[2][5]
• c. 1400 – English aggregate is formed from its past participle.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bring (people) together; to associate (with); (reflexive or passive) to join, attach oneself (to).^[2][4][9]
2. To count (among), class (with).^[2][3]
3. (law) To lump together (sums or sureties) for reckoning.^[2]
4. To implicate (in a charge).^[2]
5. (Late and Medieval Latin) To gather, assemble; to admit (to a community).^[3][6][7]

Word family

• aggregātiō

Related words

• gregō
• English aggregate

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 e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn