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arrogo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word arrogo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin rogō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rogo
Latin arrogo
From the same root
Latin abrogo ← rogo
Latin corrogo ← rogo
Latin derogo ← rogo
Latin erogo ← rogo
Latin interrogo ← rogo
Latin irrogo ← rogo
Latin perrogo ← rogo
Latin praerogativus ← rogo
Latin prorogo ← rogo
Latin rogatio ← rogo
Latin rogatus ← rogo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈar.rɔ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈar.ro.ɡo][1]

Forms

arrogō (present infinitive arrogāre, perfect active arrogāvī, supine arrogātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled adrogō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + rogō (“to ask”), with ⟨d⟩ assimilated to ⟨r⟩.[2][3][4] De Vaan, who lists it among the derivatives of rogō from Plautus on, takes that verb to be made from a noun meaning “request” or an adjective meaning “stretching”, which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃roǵ-o- (“stretching”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Plautus: Venus haec volo adroget te, “I want Venus here to put a question to you”.[2][3] The OLD suggests, with a query, that it means putting a further question, as an assistant to the one who stipulates;[2][3][4] Lewis & Short take it simply as “to ask”.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

It was a political and legal term.[2][3] In Livy it is to appoint one magistrate beside another: the senators thought it unseemly to add a dictator to Camillus as sole consul.[2][3] In law it meant to adopt a grown man as one's son, especially at his own request.[2][3]

From Cicero on it most often means to claim something for oneself, a right or a quality: Cicero uses it of claiming power over words as well as things, and of making undue claims.[2][3] Horace uses it the other way, of fortune granting glory to another.[2] Apuleius uses it of matter added from outside.[2] English arrogate, first recorded in the 1530s, comes from its past participle.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of putting a question to someone.[2][4][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of claiming something for oneself.[2][3][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of granting glory to another.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of adding a dictator to a consul.[2][6]
  • 1530s – English arrogate is formed from its past participle.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put a further question to (perhaps as an assistant in a stipulation).[2][3]
  2. To appoint (a magistrate) beside or over another; to bring in (something additional).[2][3]
  3. To claim as one's own; to claim to have (a quality); to make undue claims, be conceited.[2][3][1]
  4. To claim for another, assign, attribute.[2][3]
  5. (law) To adopt (a grown man) as one's son.[2][3]

Word family

  • arrogantia
  • arrogātiō
  • arrogātor
  • arroganter
  • arrogāns

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 n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Arrogo.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/arrogo. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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