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circumgredior

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word circumgredior

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
86–34 BC, Sallust
Ultimate origin
Latin (gradior)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin gradior
Latin praegredior
Latin congredior
Latin congressus
English congress
English congressman
Latin congressio
Latin progredior
Latin progressus
English progress
Latin regredior
Latin regressus
Latin gressus
Latin ingredior
Latin ingressus
Latin grassor
Latin circumgredior

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɪr.kʊŋˈɡrɛ.di.ɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃir.kumˈɡrɛː.di.or][1]

Forms

circumgredior (present infinitive circumgredī, perfect active circumgressus sum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin circum- + gradior (“to step, walk”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces gradior to Proto-Italic *grad-(e)i-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is in Sallust's letter of Mithridates in the Histories, of an army surrounded from Mesopotamia and Armenia.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short describe it as post-Augustan, used several times by Tacitus and rarely elsewhere.[6] It is chiefly a military word, of troops going round an enemy by a flanking movement:[2][3] Tacitus uses it of taking the enemy in the rear (terga circumgressi).[3][7] Later writers use it more loosely: Aurelius Victor of going round Syria, and Ammianus of going round a pool in order to cross it.[3][7]

Timeline

  • 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of surrounding an army.[3][8]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it several times of flanking movements.[6][3][8]
  • c. 360 AD – Aurelius Victor uses it of going round a country.[3][8]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of going round a pool.[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (military) To go round an enemy by a flanking movement, surround.[2][3]
  2. To go or walk around.[6][7]

Word family

  • circumgressus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Circumgredior.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/circumgredior. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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