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castigo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word castigo

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic (*kas-ē-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kasˈtiː.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kasˈtiː.ɡo][1]

Forms

castīgō (present infinitive castīgāre, perfect active castīgāvī, supine castīgātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from castus (“pure”) with a verb ending as in fatīgō (“to tire”), from agō (“to drive, do”).[2][3][1][4] De Vaan lists it with ⟨castus⟩ under careō (“to lack, be free from”), whose participle ⟨castus⟩ was first “free from”; he derives the verb from Proto-Italic *kas-ē- (“to lack”) and finds no certain cognates outside Italic.[5] The TLL leaves open whether it belongs with ⟨castus⟩ or rather with Sanskrit शास्ति (śāsti, “instructs, chastises”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] who has “to castigate a friend for a deserved fault is a thankless deed” in the Trinummus.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to correct or try to correct, to reprimand or dress down, and to criticise faults, as Cicero's “let us also castigate men's sloth and idleness”.[2][3][1] It is also to chastise by punishment, as Plautus' “he'll chastise them with ox-hides”, and with the fault as object, as in Livy.[2][1] In Seneca it is to correct or curb a desire.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “reprove, punish, chastise, correct”.[7] Through Old French chastiier it gave English chastise about 1300 and the verb behind chasten, while castigate, about 1600, is taken from its participle.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of reproving a friend and of beating.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of castigating sloth.[2][8]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of curbing desires.[2][8]
  • c. 1300 – English chastise, through Old French.[4]
  • c. 1600 – English castigate.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To correct, reprimand, reprove, rebuke.[2][3][1][7]
  2. To chastise, punish.[2][3][1][7]
  3. To correct, check, curb.[2][1]

Word family

  • castīgābilis
  • castīgātiō
  • castīgātor
  • castīgātōrius
  • concastīgō
  • incastīgātus
  • castīgātus

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 g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Castigo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/castigo. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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