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dego

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word dego

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₂eǵ-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin ago
French agir
Latin actrix
Latin ambigo
Latin actio
French action
Latin abigo
Latin dego
Latin perago
Latin adigo
Latin cogo
Latin activus
English active
English activist
Latin actus
English act
Latin actuosus
Latin actor
English actor
English actress
French acteur
Latin subigo
Latin circumago
Latin agito
French agiter
Latin exagito
Latin redigo
Latin agilis

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdeː.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.ɡo][1]

Forms

dēgō (present infinitive dēgere, perfect active dēgī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1] Late texts also have dēgeō and the perfect dēguī.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + agō (“to drive, do”), contracted.[3][2][1] The grammarian Priscian explained ⟨dēgō⟩ as a syncope made for the sake of euphony.[2] The verb agō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest examples are in Plautus, “I spend the day in the forum from morning to night”, and in Ennius' “Romulus spends eternity in heaven”.[5][3]

Semantic evolution

It is to spend or pass one's life or time, and in Lucretius to carry on a fight.[3][5] Intransitively it is to live, as in Livy's girls who lived as orphans, and to live on, as Pliny the Elder's happy people who live to a great age.[3] Paulus' abridgement of Festus says that the ancients used it for exspectāre “to wait”.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “live, spend time”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of spending the day in the forum.[5][7]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of Romulus in heaven.[3][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of carrying on a fight.[3][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of living as orphans.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To spend, pass time or one's life.[3][5][1]
  2. To live, dwell; to live on, continue.[3][1]
  3. To wait.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 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

“Dego.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dego. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·