Etymologically
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augeo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈau̯.ɡe.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaːu̯.d͡ʒe.o][1]

Forms

augeō (present infinitive augēre, perfect active auxī, supine auctum); second conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *augeje/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eug-eie- (“to make grow”), from the root *h₂ewg- (“to grow”).[2][1] An s-stem noun of the same root, kept in Indo-Iranian, survives in augur, from *augos “reinforcement”, and augustus is derived from the same noun.[2]

Cognate with Venetic augar (“offering”),[2] Sanskrit उक्षति (ukṣáti, “grows”), Ancient Greek αὐξάνω (auxánō, “to increase”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌺𐌰𐌽 (aukan, “to increase”) and Lithuanian áugti (“to grow”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus onwards.[2] Pacuvius says the sky “quickens, shapes, feeds, makes grow and creates” all things.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to increase in size or number, to make living things grow, and to strengthen a state or a person's power.[3] It was used for promoting someone in rank and for glorifying, as Cicero says a man “increased the name of the Roman people”.[3]

It also meant to heighten feelings, as Terence's “increase my suspicion”, to make an illness worse, and to develop a talent.[3] In rhetoric it meant to make much of something, and Quintilian uses it for heightening the style.[3] Medieval music theory used it for widening an interval and lengthening a note.[5] English augment comes from Late Latin augmentare, and author from its derivative auctor.[6]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of the sky making things grow.[3][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for heightening suspicion.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for enlarging the city and the state.[3][7]
  • mid-14th century – English author comes from its derivative auctor.[6]
  • c. 1400 – English augment is first recorded in the sense “to make larger”.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To increase, enlarge; to raise (a number).[3][8]
  2. To make grow.[3][1]
  3. To strengthen (a state, a person).[3][1]
  4. To promote, honour; to glorify.[3][1]
  5. To furnish, enrich (with).[3]
  6. To heighten (feelings); to make worse.[3]
  7. To develop (a talent).[3]
  8. (rhetoric) To magnify, exaggerate.[3][1]

Word family

  • adaugeō
  • auctarium
  • auctifer
  • auctificō
  • auctificus
  • auctiō
  • auctitō
  • aucto
  • auctor
  • auctrīx
  • auctum
  • auctus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press