Etymologically
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aufugio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [au̯ˈfʊ.ɡi.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [au̯ˈfuː.d͡ʒi.o][1]

Forms

aufugiō (present infinitive aufugere, perfect active aufūgī); third (-iō variant) conjugation, no supine stem, impersonal in the passive[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- + fugiō (“to flee”), with the prefix in the form ⟨au-⟩.[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of fugiō, from Plautus on, and traces that verb to Proto-Italic *fug-i- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰug-i- (“to flee”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[3][4][5] who has aufugero hercle, si magis usus venerit, “I'll run away, by Hercules, if the need arises”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to run away, flee.[2][6] Plautus uses it also of things that disappear, as water that is said to have run off.[2][6] Transitively it means to flee from, shun: in Cicero's Aratea Andromeda flees the sight of her parent, and Propertius has it with blanditias.[2][6] Lewis and Short call it very rare but classical: Catullus, Tibullus, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid and Sallust do not use it, Cicero has it twice in the speeches, and Tacitus once.[6] Cicero uses it of a pirate chief who might escape, and of someone who ran off after stealing many books.[6] Catulus, quoted by Gellius, has aufugit mihi animus, “my soul has fled from me”.[6] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to flee.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of running away and of water vanishing.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.[6][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it transitively of fleeing a sight.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of fleeing from a place.[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To run away, flee, escape.[2][6]
  2. Of things, to vanish, disappear.[2][1]
  3. (transitive) To flee from, shun.[2][6]

References

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