Etymologically
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ango

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈaŋ.ɡoː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaŋ.ɡo][1]

Forms

angō (present infinitive angere, perfect active ānxī, supine ānctum); third conjugation[1] The perfect ānxī and the participle are hardly attested, the perfect only in Gellius and the participle anctus in Festus.[2][3] Varro has the spelling aggens.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *ange/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂emǵʰ-e/o- (“to tie, tighten”).[4][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἄγχω (ánkhō, “to squeeze, strangle”), Hittite hamank- (“to tie”), Sanskrit अंहु (aṃhú, “narrow”), Old Armenian անձուկ (anjowk, “narrow”) and Old High German angust (“fear”).[4][2][5] From the same root come angustus “narrow”, angor “anguish” and ānxius “worried”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's first attestation is Plautus, and the OLD's earliest citation, from Plautus, is of causing anguish.[4][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant to throttle, choke, as Virgil's guttur angere “to squeeze the throat”, and in Pliny the Elder to cause physical pain.[2][7] From Plautus it meant to cause mental distress, to vex, and in Cicero the passive meant to be anxious, troubled.[2]

Medieval Latin used it of physical torment and of making someone anxious or afraid.[8] Ecclesiastical Latin glosses it bind, throttle, vex.[9] Its derivative ānxius gave English anxious in the 1620s, and angustia gave English anguish through Old French about 1200.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of causing anguish.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the passive of being anxious.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of choking.[2][6]
  • 1620s – English anxious is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To throttle, choke.[2]
  2. To cause pain.[2]
  3. To distress, vex; in the passive, to be anxious.[2]

Word family

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com