ago
Pronunciation
Forms
agō (present infinitive agere, perfect active ēgī, supine āctum); third conjugation[1] Old Latin had the subjunctive axim (for egerim), used by Pacuvius.[2][3]
Etymology
It is inherited from Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- (“to do, act”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).[3][1] The long vowel of the perfect ēgī is hard to explain: Meiser took it over from the old perfect of aiō “to say”, but de Vaan notes that this fails if that verb had a different root, and suggests instead analogy with pairs such as faciō, fēcī.[3]
Cognate with Oscan acum (“to act (in law)”),[3] and further with Old Irish aigid (“drives”), Sanskrit अजति (ájati, “drives”), Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “to lead, drive”) and Old Norse aka (“to drive, ride”).[3][1][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
It appears in the Laws of the Twelve Tables and in Naevius.[3] The first sense in the OLD is to drive cattle, as in Plautus' “where did you want us to drive the victims?”[2]
Semantic evolution
From driving animals it spread to driving horses and chariots, to setting things in motion, and to making water flow.[2] Animam agere, “to drive out the breath”, meant to be dying, and plants were said to put forth roots and shoots.[2]
The commonest Classical senses are to do or perform, to act, and to busy oneself with something.[2] In the theatre it meant to stage a play or play a part, and so to behave as or act the part of someone.[2] It meant to spend time or live a life, and Cicero's quartum ago annum et octogesimum means “I am in my eighty-fourth year”.[2] In business and public life it meant to transact, discuss and settle, and in law to bring an action or plead.[2] Scholastic philosophy set agere, to act or produce an effect, against pati, to undergo it.[4] French agir and Italian agire were borrowed from it.[1]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for driving sacrificial animals and for doing.[2][5]
- 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for driving oxen.[2][5]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for his age, the eighty-fourth year he is “passing”.[2][5]
Meanings
Verb
- To drive (cattle and other animals).[2][6]
- To drive or ride (a horse); to drive (a chariot).[2]
- (reflexive) To go, make one's way.[2]
- To set in motion, stir; to make (liquids) flow.[2]
- animam agere To breathe one's last.[2]
- (of plants) To put forth (roots, shoots).[2]
- To chase, pursue; to hunt.[2]
- To do, perform, accomplish; to act.[2][1]
- age! Come on![2]
- To stage, act (a play); to play the part of.[2][1]
- To spend (time), live (one's life); to be in (a given year of age).[2]
- To deal with, transact (business); to treat, negotiate.[2]
- To discuss, debate.[2][1]
- To deliver (a speech).[2]
- (law) To bring an action, plead.[2][1]
Word family
Related words
- āctīvē
- āctuālis
- āctuāliter
- āctuāria
- āctuārium
- āctuōsē
- āctuōsus
- āctūtum
- agilitās
- agiliter
- English act
- English action
- English agent
Usage notes
Döderlein contrasts agere, doing whose effect lasts only while one acts, with facere, making something that remains, and agere in one's own interest with gerere, carrying out a task for someone else.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper