Etymologically
Log in

circumago

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 19:25. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɪrˈkʊ.ma.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃirˈkuː.ma.ɡo][1]

Forms

circumagō (present infinitive circumagere, perfect active circumēgī, supine circumāctum); third conjugation[1] It is also spelled circuagō.[2] Lucretius and Virgil split it by tmesis.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin circum- (“around”) + agō (“to drive, lead”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces agō to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Cato's prayer for the purification of a farm, where the sacrificial pig, sheep and bull are driven round the land.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means to drive or lead round, and to take by a roundabout way, as Horace's “there is no need for you to go round about”.[2] Varro uses it of a furrow drawn round a site.[2] It is also to make something move in a circle, as Vitruvius' rotation of the heavens, and in the passive of seasons coming round in a year, as Livy's solar year.[2] It means to turn round or revolve, and figuratively to throw into turmoil, as Petronius' man upset as if by a troubled dream; also to bend round, and to turn persons or things in another direction, as Livy's horsemen turning their horses with the reins.[2] Pliny the Elder notes a grape that turns with the sun.[2] Lewis & Short note that it is most frequent from the Augustan period and absent from Cicero and Quintilian.[5]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of driving sacrificial animals round a farm.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a furrow drawn round a site.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of going a roundabout way.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the year coming round and of turning horses.[2][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a grape that turns with the sun.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drive or lead round; to take by a roundabout route.[2][5][1]
  2. To make move in a circle; in the passive, of seasons, to come round.[2][5]
  3. To turn round, revolve; figuratively, to throw into a turmoil.[2][5][1]
  4. To bend round, make round.[2]
  5. To turn in another direction; in the passive, to turn round or back.[2][5]

Word family

  • circumactiō
  • circumactus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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. ^ 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 f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de