Etymologically
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coarguo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [koˈar.ɡu.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [koˈar.ɡu.o][1]

Forms

coarguō (present infinitive coarguere, perfect active coarguī, supine coargūtum); third conjugation[1] The spelling comarguō is also found.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + arguō (“to make clear, prove”).[3][2][1] De Vaan takes arguō as probably a denominative verb “to make bright”, from an adjective Proto-Italic *argu- (“bright”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ-u- (“white”).[4] Cognate with Sanskrit अर्जुन (árjuna-, “white, light”) and Ancient Greek ἄργυρος (árguros, “silver”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,[5] who speaks of refuting and showing up a lie.[3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short take it as a legal term, at first “to attack from several sides”, and note that it is most frequent in Cicero.[6] It means to show up or make plain, usually something wrong, and to prove a charge.[3] Of persons it is to convict or show to be guilty, as in Cicero's “so that he could not be convicted by erasures”, and to show someone to be wrong;[3] Seneca and Livy also use it of refuting a statement or belief.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of exposing a lie and of convicting a man.[3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of convicting a person of error.[3][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of refuting the things that frighten us.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To show up, make plain, expose.[3][6][1]
  2. To prove a charge.[3][1]
  3. To convict, prove guilty.[3][6][1]
  4. To show to be wrong, confute; to refute a statement.[3][6][1]

Word family

  • coargutio

Usage notes

The grammarian Agroecius distinguished it from arguere: coarguere is to restrain and check, while arguere is to show and reveal.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press