defatigatio

Pronunciation

• Classical: [deː.fa.tiːˈɡaː.ti.oː]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [de.fa.tiˈɡat.t͡si.o]^[1]

Forms

dēfatīgātiō f (genitive dēfatīgātiōnis); third declension^[1] Manuscripts often have dēfetīgātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēfatīgō (“to tire out”) + -tiō (“action noun suffix”).^[2][1] The verb is a compound of dē- and fatīgō (“to weary”), which de Vaan, following Dunkel, explains from a noun Proto-Italic *fati- (“exhaustion”) and the root of agō (“to drive”); the noun survives in affatim (“amply”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Rhetorica ad Herennium,^[5] whose author ends a book so that the length of the text should not let weariness slow the reader's mind.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Classical writers used it for physical exhaustion, of the enemy and of horses,^[7][6] and for weariness of mind: Cicero speaks of the exhaustion of the limbs, and calls it shameful to grow tired of inquiry.^[2][6] He also pairs it with satiety as the only thing that could end a man's killing.^[3] L&S distinguish an active sense, a tiring out, as in Hirtius' march made without exhausting the horses.^[7][3]

Late writers kept it, among them Pelagonius in his veterinary work, of an overloaded horse,^[3] and medieval authors used it for the exhaustion of a long journey.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium speaks of a reader's weariness.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the limbs and of weariness in inquiry.^[2][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar and Hirtius use it of the enemy and of horses.^[7][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of utter exhaustion.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Physical or mental exhaustion, fatigue.^[2][7]
2. Weariness of an activity.^[2]
3. The act of tiring out.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press