Etymologically
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circumgredior

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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