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concitatus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word concitatus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*(ḱ)ei(h₂)-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cito
Latin incito
Latin incitatus
Latin incitamentum
Latin excito
Latin suscito
Latin concito
Latin concitatus
Latin recito
Latin recitatio

Forms

concitātus (feminine concitāta, neuter concitātum, comparative concitātior, superlative concitātissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect participle from Latin concitō (“to set in rapid motion, stir up”).[1][2] That verb is con- with citō (“to set in motion”), the frequentative of cieō “to set moving”; de Vaan reconstructs a participle Proto-Italic *kito- (“stirred”) and an aorist Proto-Indo-European *(ḱ)ei(h₂)- (“to start to move”), comparing the aorist Ancient Greek ἔκιε (ékie, “started to move”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] whose De re publica says that the revolution of the starry sky is the swifter one.[1]

Semantic evolution

Besides the senses of the verb, it is fast or rapid.[1] Of feelings and states of mind it is roused, vehement or violent: Valerius Maximus passes from a calm emotion to a more excited one.[1] Of style it is energetic and vehement, as Cicero's swift and vehement speech, and of actions excited, as Livy's shouting that grows more excited as the fight increases.[1] The TLL sets it beside excitātus, īnstīgātus and īrātus, of crowds and peoples stirred up.[2]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the swift heavens and of vehement speech.[1][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of excited shouting.[1][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Fast, rapid.[1]
  2. Of feelings, roused, vehement, violent; of style, energetic, impetuous; of actions, excited.[1][2]

Usage notes

A rare fourth-declension noun concitātus, -ūs “impulse, agitation” appears in Sidonius Apollinaris.[5][2][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Concitatus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/concitatus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·