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defugio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word defugio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*bʰug-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fugio
French fuir
Latin fugito
Latin subterfugio
Latin transfugio
Latin transfuga
Latin effugio
Latin effugium
Latin refugio
Latin profugio
Latin confugio
Latin defugio
Latin perfugio
Latin perfugium
Latin diffugio
Latin aufugio

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈfʊ.ɡi.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈfuː.d͡ʒi.o][1]

Forms

dēfugiō (present infinitive dēfugere, perfect active dēfūgī); third (-iō variant) conjugation, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- (“away”) + fugiō (“to flee”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces fugiō to Proto-Italic *fug-i- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰug- (“to flee”), cognate with Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō, “to flee”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL find it first in Plautus;[4][3] in the Poenulus it means avoiding someone's authority.[3]

Semantic evolution

As a transitive verb it means escaping or shunning something unpleasant: Caesar has avoiding a man's company and conversation, and a battle,[5] and Cicero someone fleeing his country for Tarquinii.[2][5] It is also used of avoiding a task or responsibility.[2][5] Intransitively it means to escape by flight, as in Livy of a whole wing of an army throwing away its arms.[2] Stelten gives "flee, avoid, escape" for Church Latin.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of avoiding someone's authority.[3][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of shunning conversation and a battle.[5][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of fleeing one's country.[2][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of running away in battle.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To escape from, run away from; to shun, avoid (something unpleasant, a duty).[2][5][1]
  2. (intransitive) To make one's escape, flee; to keep clear of a duty.[2][1]

Word family

  • defuga

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Defugio.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/defugio. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·