belligero

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [bɛlˈlɪ.ɡɛ.roː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [belˈliː.d͡ʒe.ro]^[1]

Forms

belligerō (present infinitive belligerāre, perfect active belligerāvī, supine belligerātum); first conjugation^[1] Also deponent belligeror.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from belliger “warlike”, from bellum “war” and gerō “to carry on”, with -ō.^[2][1][4] De Vaan notes that ⟨bellum⟩ comes from older ⟨duellum⟩, still found in Plautus.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short cite Ennius, quoted by Cicero, nec caupōnantēs bellum, sed belligerantēs “not huckstering war but waging it”, and Plautus.^[3] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC and Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant to wage war, be at war, fight, as in Plautus' Captīvī and Livy's cum Gallīs belligerāre “to wage war with the Gauls”, and Cicero uses it figuratively of fighting with fortune, and Lewis & Short call it very rare.^[2][3][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it.^[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wage war, fight.^[2][3]

Related words

• bellum
• gerō
• belliger
• English belligerent

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de